e«im«8Sfi82E 


HX641 18932 
RC201  .F84  Hieronymus  Fracastor    r 

RECAP 


3XJSUHK|B''^i;?; 


^mm 


"Rc^o\ 


Columbia  Um  ber^ttj> 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Open  Knowledge  Commons 


http://www.archive.org/details/hieronymusfracaOOfrac 


HIERONYMUS     FRACASTOR'S 


I  L  I  S 


HIERONYMUS    FRACASTOR 


*$$  Hieronymus  Fracastor  was  born  in  1483  and  died  in  1553. 
He  was  a  poet  and  a  scholar  and  served  as  professor  of  logic 
at  Padua.  He  published  his  masterpiece  "Syphilis  sive 
Morbus  Gallicus"  at  Venice  in  1530.  Eloquent,  melodious 
and  beautiful,  Syphilis  sive  Morbus  Gallicus  stands  well 
in  the  front  of  the  world's  great  poems  acd  has  earned  for  its 
author  eternal  fame.  It  was  from  this  poem  that  the  word 
Syphilis  had  its  origin. 


Hieronymus   Fracastor's 


SYPH 


FROM  THE  ORIGINAL  LATIN 


A    TRANSLATION 
IN  PROSE  OF 
FRACASTOR'S 
IMMORTAL 
POEM 


The  Philmar  Company 

Saint    Louis  Missouri 


MCMXI 


Copyrig  ht,    1911,    by 

THE  PHILMAR  COMPANY 


THIS    CELEBRATED   POEM    OF 

HIERONYMUS     FRA  CASTOR 

has  endured  through  nearly  four 
centuries.     To  the  author  is  due  the 
credit  of  having  given  this  name 
which,  not  only  supplanted  the  many 
others  which  had  been  given  to  it, 
but  which  has  persisted  to  the  pres- 
ent day  and  is  in   universal  use. 
Whilst  this  poem    is  filled    with 
mythological  allusions  it  affords  a 
good   clitiical    description    of    the 
symptoms  of  the  disease.     It  shows, 
throughout  its  lines,  the  erudition 
of  its  author,  his  keen  appreciation 
of  the  importayice  of  the  subject  as 
well  as  his  mastery  of  the  matter  in 
hand.     It  may  be  suggested  that  to 
treat  such  a  subject  in  L^tin   hex- 
ameters is  not  very  setious  bid  we 
will  call  the  attention  of  those  crit- 
ics that  the  poem  is  merely  a  putting 
in  verse,  by  the  author,  of  his  small 
prose  treatise,  De  Contagionibus  et 
Conlagiosis  Morbis,   published  in 
1546.     Born  in  1483,  Fracastor  was 
still  a  child  when  the  Morbus  Galli- 
cus  made    its  first  appearance  in 
Europe.  However,  he  did  not  attrib- 
ute the  disease  to  the   invasion  of 
Charles   VIII.,  but  regarded  it  as 
much  more  ancient. 

THE  PUBLISHERS 


I  SING  of  that  terrible  disease,  unknown  to  past  cen- 
turies, which  attacked  all  Europe  in  one  day,  and 
spread  itself  over  a  part  of  Africa  and  of  Asia.  I 
will  tell  what  concourse  of  influences,  what  occult  germs 
have  caused  it,  how  it  arose  in  Latium  at  the  time  that 
the  French  armies  rendered  desolate  that  unhappy  coun- 
try, what  reason  caused  it  to  be  called  the  French  dis- 
ease. I  will  tell  how  in  those  cruel  trials,  the  genius  of 
man  succeeded,  with  the  help  of  the  gods,  in  discovering 
the  heroic  remedy  which  abated  the  fury  of  the  plague. 
I  shall  interrogate  in  order  to  reveal  the  secret  origin  of 
this  disease,  both  the  azure  plains  of  the  ether  and  the 
stars  suspended  from  the  vault  of  the  heavens.  The  field 
of  the  unknown  and  the  mysterious  domains  of  Nature 
open  up  before  me,  and  my  seduced  muse  permits  her- 
self to  be  drawn  by  the  learned  Sisters  of  Parnassus. 

Illustrious  Bembo,  glory  of  Italy,  if  thy  master  has 
accorded  thee  some  moments  of  rest,  if  he  permits  thee 
to  leave  for  an  instant  the  helm  of  the  world  and  devote 
a  short  space  of  thy  time  to  the  muse,  deign  to  cast  thy 
eyes  on  these  verses,  all  unworthy  as  they  may  be  of  thy 
genius.  My  work  is  but  a  medical  essay,  but  remember 
that  Apollo  himself  did  not  look  upon  it  as  derogatory 
to  his  dignity  divine  to  cultivate  the  healing  art.  This 
subject  besides,  light  in  appearance,  takes  on  at  times 
a  serious  interest;  mine  under  a  frivolous  guise,  will  cause 
to  appear  before  thee  the  great  laws  of  nature,  the  de- 

Page  Nine 


cisions  of  destiny,  and  the  mysterious  origin  of  a  frightful 
scourge. 

And  thou  divine  Urania,  thou  who  knowest  the 
cause  and  effects  of  all  things,  thou  for  whom  the  spaces 
of  air  and  the  depths  of  the  heavens  hold  no  secrets,  de- 
scend to  my  side  under  these  quiet  shades  where  the 
breath  of  the  zephyrs,  the  perfume  of  the  myrtle  and  the 
harmonious  murmurs  of  Banacus  invite  me  to  sing.  Give 
me  the  sacred  inspiration,  and  may,  in  return,  as  through 
Olympus  thou  traversest  the  luminous  field  of  ether,  the 
sublime  choir  of  the  celestial  world  applaud  thy  glory. 

Muse,  what  causes  presided  at  the  origin  of  this 
scourge  so  long  wrapped  in  the  darkness  of  nothing  ? 
Was  it  imported  among  us  from  those  new  worlds  which 
were  discovered  by  the  brave  mariners  of  Spain  beyond 
the  unknows  seas  of  the  Western  world  ?  Have  we  re- 
ceived from  those  far  countries  the  germ  where  it  is  said 
it  has  reigned  as  sovereign  master  from  all  eternity,  num- 
bering as  many  victims  as  there  are  inhabitants?  Is  it 
true  that  introduced,  in  that  manner,  among  us  it  was 
then  spread  throughout  Europe  by  means  of  commercial 
relations  ?  Is  it  true  that  it  was  born  weak  and  obscure, 
to  increase  its  force  a  hundred  fold  later  on  as  it  extended 
its  ravages  and  invaded,  little  by  little,  the  entire  universe  ? 
Such  as  once,  springing  from  a  badly  extinguished  focus 
which  an  imprudent  shepherd  left  in  the  country,  a  sin- 
gle spark  sufficed  to  start  a  conflagration;  the  fire  first 
slumbers  and  insidiously  spreads  in  the  grass,  then  bursts 
out  with  fury;  the  flame,  fed  by  the  fuel,  then  raises  itself 
in  threatening  tongues,  devours  on  its  passage  the  fields 

Page  Ten 


and   prairies,  fires  forests  which  fall  with  a  crash,  and 
throws  afar  off  baleful  lights  on  sky  and  earth. 

No,  it  is  not  in  this  manner  that  this  disease  has  de- 
veloped itself.  Incontestable  testimony  proves  that  it  is 
not  of  a  strange  or  foreign  origin  and  that  it  was  not 
necessary  to  cross  the  Ocean  to  arrive  in  our  midst. 

Among  the  first  victims  who  were  attacked  in  our  cli- 
mate, I  could  mention  a  number  of  patients  who  were  spon- 
taneously attacked,  without  having  exposed  themselves 
to  the  least  chance  of  contagion.  Besides,  how  would 
it  be  possible  to  attribute  to  a  contagious  influence  a  dis- 
ease which  attacked  so  many  peoples  in  such  a  short 
time  ?  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  on  all  sides  at  one 
time  that  the  scourage  was  let  loose  upon  us,  in  Latium, 
in  the  fertile  fields  of  Sagra,  in  the  forests  of  Ausonia,  on 
the  plains  of  Otrantes,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  in  the 
hundred  cities  that  the  Eriden  enlarges  by  the  hundred 
streams  tributary  to  it,  which  lavt:  them  with  its  majestic 
waves.  At  the  same  time,  in  addition,  it  raged  on  for- 
eign shores,  and  proud  Spain,  mother  of  the  conquerors 
of  the  New  World,  did  not  suffer  from  the  cruel  attacks 
earlier  than  the  people  of  whom  the  Pyrenees,  the  Rhine 
and  the  Alps  are  the  boundaries. 

In  addition  to  this  it  was  at  this  time  that  it  made  its 
invasion  among  us,  a  people  of  the  North  with  icy  regions, 
among  all  of  you,  descendants  of  ancient  Carthage,  fort- 
unate Egyptians  whom  the  Nile  enriches  with  the  treas- 
ures of  its  waves,  son  of  Idumea  with  its  evergreen  palms. 
Now,  such  a  disease  which  attacks  the  entire  universe 
at  one  blow  could  hardly  be  the  product  of  a  simple 

Page  Eleven 


contagion;  other  causes  must  be  assuredly  recog- 
nized. 

All  beings  with  which  Nature  has  peopled  land,  air 
and  the  water,  have  not  one  mode  of  creation,  which  is 
identical  and  subject  to  the  same  laws.  The  most  sim- 
ple, whose  formation  calls  but  for  a  few  generating  prin- 
ciples, are  incessantly  reproduced  everywhere.  Others, 
more  complex,  require  for  their  being  the  help  of  many 
germs  which  are  dispersed,  succeeding  but  very  rarely  and 
with  difficulty  in  being  born  at  certain  times  and  in  cer- 
tain places.  Others,  finally,  come  out  of  nothingness  but 
after  thousands  of  centuries,  so  many  are  the  obstacles 
presented  to  the  germs  which  are  necessary  to  their 
genesis  and  to  their  union.  Well,  the  same  is  true  of 
diseases.  All  diseases  do  not  have  a  common  or  iden- 
tical origin.  The  ones,  the  majority  even,  have  an  easy 
development  which  accounts  for  their  habitual  frequency; 
but,  others  are  of  a  difficult  sort  to  deliver  and  succeed 
but  very  slowly  to  constitute  themselves,  after  having 
long  fought  against  the  infinite  difficulties  which  destiny 
opposed  to  their  birth.  Of  this  number,  for  instance,  is 
elephantiasis,  still  unknown  by  Ausonia,  and  lichen  which 
remains  confined  on  the  banks  of  the  Niie.  Of  this  num- 
ber is  also  the  French  disease  which,  for  a  long  time 
wrapped  up  in  the  darkness  of  the  nothing,  has  suddenly 
freed  itself  from  its  bindings,  after  many  centuries  of 
waiting,  to  finally  rise  in  the  light  and  make  an  irruption 
among  us. 

It  is  to  be  surmised,  however,  that  in  the  course  of 
the  eternity  of  ages  this  disease  must  have  shown  itself 

Page  Twelve 


upon  earth  several  times.  If  we  were  ignorant  of  every- 
thing even  including  its  name  when  we  suffered  its  attacks, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  traces  of  its  passages  have 
been  obliterated  by  time,  time,  that  pitiless  destroyer  who 
reduces  to  naught  everything  in  its  footsteps  and  who 
robs  us  even  of  the  monuments,  even  of  the  recollections 
of  our  ancestors. 

In  the  West,  on  the  other  hand,  on  those  shores  re- 
cently discovered  beyond  the  Atlantic,  this  disease  is 
habitual  and  general.  Strange  contrast,  inexplicable  in- 
fluence of  climate  and  time.  In  those  far-off  regions,  the 
scourge  reigns  as  a  rule;  it  occurs  there  spontaneously; 
it  germinates  there  at  pleasure  as  if  on  a  soil  which  has 
been  prepared  with  a  design  to  receive  it,  whilst  it  has 
not  succeeded  in  developing  among  us  but  thousands  of 
years  later. 

So  you  wish  to  go  back,  by  an  analytic  method,  to 
the  source  and  origin  of  this  disease  ?  First  of  all  look 
at  how  many  countries  have  be^n  struck  and  how  many 
people  have  been  afflicted.  From  the  immensity  of  its 
ravages  you  will  recognize  the  fact  at  once  that  its  pro- 
ductive germs  could  neither  be  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
nor  in  the  bosom  of  the  waters.  In  order  to  have  gen- 
eralized itself  in  the  manner  in  which  it  did,  it  is  evidently 
necessary  that  the  mysterious  agent  from  which  it  has 
originated  be  contained  in  the  air,  in  the  air  which  bathes 
and  envelopes  the  entire  world,  which  penetrates  all 
bodies,  and  which  serves  as  a  vehicle  for  contagious  fer- 
ments. In  fact,  air  is  the  essential  cause  and  the  prin- 
ciple of  all  things.     If  but  too  often  it  becomes  for  us  the 

Page  Thirteen 


source  of  diseases,  it  is  because  the  changeable  nature 
of  its  elements  exposes  it  to  corruption;  it  is  because  it  is 
equally  prompt  to  impregnate  itself  with  the  morbific 
miasms  and  to  disseminate  those  with  which  it  is 
charged. 

Again,  consider  on  the  other  hand  in  what  manner 
air  may  be  modified  in  the  course  of  ages;  learn  how  it 
conceived  the  germ  of  the  fatal  contagion  which  it  has 
spread  among  us. 

The  sun  and  the  stars  are  the  sovereign  masters  to 
whom  the  air  and  the  earth  and  the  waters  do  servile 
obedience.  Their  course  and  their  evolutions  in  the 
heavens  rule  the  course  of  the  elements.  Thus,  directly 
Phebus  approaches  the  earth  by  directing  his  rapid 
coursers  to  the  South,  cold  winter  shows  itself  with  rigor; 
the  soil  hardens  and  is  covered  with  frost  and  ice  stops 
the  course  of  rivers.  On  the  other  hand,  hardly  has  the 
God  of  Day  entered  in  the  sign  of  Cancer,  but  the  burn- 
ing Summer  devours  the  fields  and  the  woods,  dries  up 
the  prairies  and  covers  the  tilled  parts  with  an  arid  dust. 
And  it  is  not  doubtful,  either,  that  the  elements  in  their 
state  of  repose  in  the  same  manner  as  during  the  great 
revolutions  which  agitate  them,  are  subject  to  multiple 
sidereal  influences  which  they  obey,  either  from  the  moon, 
the  queen  of  night,  which  holds  under  its  laws  the  seas 
and  all  the  moist  principles  of  nature,  or  from  the  sinister 
star  Saturn,  or  from  the  beneficent  fires  of  Jupiter,  the 
rays  of  Mars  and  of  Venus.  Those  manifestations  be- 
come especially  marked  when  the  stars  deviate  from  their 
courses  and  when  several  of  them  converge  upon  one 

Page  Fourteen 


point  of  the  sky.  Such  disturbances,  it  is  true,  as  signs 
of  divine  will,  do  not  produce  themselves  except  at  rare 
intervals  and  after  a  long  series  of  regular  cycles.  But, 
when  they  do  accomplish  their  end,  when  the  hour  fixed 
for  them  by  destiny  has  sounded,  then,  oh  misfortune; 
the  earth,  the  air,  and  the  waters  are  suddenly  turned 
over  to  fearsome  cataclysms.  At  times  it  is  thick  clouds 
which  steal  the  light  of  day;  the  sky  melts  into  water; 
torrents  hurl  themselves  from  the  crests  of  mountains, 
carrying  away,  in  their  impetuous  force,  trees,  rocks,  and 
flocks  of  animals;  raising  above  their  banks  their  roaring 
waves,  the  Erida  and  the  Ganges  inundate  cities,  sub- 
merge forests,  and  form  new  streams.  At  other  times, 
it  is  the  unchained  winds  which  blow  with  fury,  or  sub- 
terranean storms  which  shake  the  ground  and  throw  over 
the  walls  of  cities.  Perhaps  even,  alas !  there  will  come 
a  day,  an  unlucky  day  marked  by  Nature  and  the 
Destinies,  when  those  countries  which  we  inhabit  today 
will  either  be  changed  into  an  uncultivated  desert  or  be 
swallowed  up  in  the  waves;  or  the  sun  himself,  Oh  pro- 
digy !  will  follow  a  new  course  in  space;  or  the  seasons 
will  be  turned  topsy-turvy;  or  extraordinary  heats  or  colds 
will  desolate  the  world;  during  which  unknown  animals 
will  rise  to  the  light,  borrowing  their  principle  of  life  from 
the  eternal  source  of  all  creation ! 

Who  knows  whether  the  earth  at  such  a  time,  trying 
itself  at  more  arduous  labors  may  not  produce  anew  some 
Encelatae,  Ceae,  Typhae,  daring  Titans,  who  will  at- 
tempt for  a  second  time  to  pile  Olympus  on  Ossa  in 
order  to  scale  the  heavens,  their  old  home  ? 

Page  Fifteen 


In  view  of  such  sights,  how  can  it  be  doubted  but 
that,  on  some  fatal  day,  prepared  in  the  course  of  ages 
and  the  revolutions  of  the  sky,  the  air  can  suddenly 
charge  the  world  with  pestilential  germs  and  afflict  it 
with  this  unknown  scourge  ? 

Shall  I  cite  to  you  an  example  ?  Two  hundred 
years  ago,  at  the  precise  time  that  Mars  united  his  rays 
with  the  baleful  fires  of  Saturn,  there  was  suddenly  ob- 
served rising  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  among  the 
people  who  viewed  the  rise  of  Aurora,  a  fever  of  a  na- 
ture absolutely  new.  This  fever — horrible  thing! — tore 
waves  of  blood  from  the  palpitating  bosom  of  its  victims, 
and  but  too  often  ended  itself  on  the  fourth  day  by  a 
mortal  crisis.  From  its  primitive  cradle  it  soon  spread 
itself  in  Assyria,  in  Persia,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tigris, 
then  in  Arabia,  Egypt  and  Phrygia;  and  from  there, 
crossing  the  immensity  of  the  seas,  it  came  to  infect  Italy, 
to  extend  afterwards  over  the  whole  of  Europe. 

If  then  you  wish  to  know  the  origin  and  the  cause  of 
this  scourge  which  now  afflicts  us,  raise  your  looks  to  the 
ethereal  spaces,  the  abode  of  the  Immortals,  to  search 
with  me  what  the  situation  of  the  stars  was  and  what 
presages  they  furnished  at  the  time  that  this  disease  ap- 
peared among  us.  Look !  At  that  fateful  moment  all 
the  greater  stars  converged  on  that  point  of  the  sky  where 
Cancer,  the  vigilant  sentinel,  seems  to  watch,  his  arms 
extended  over  the  gates  of  Olympus,  on  that  sinister 
point  where  are  always  formulated  the  unlucky  signs  of 
calamities  which  are  to  come !  And  thence  all  those 
united  stars  spread  in  the  air  their  rays  conjured  against 

Page  Sixteen 


us !  Such  presages  did  not  escape  Sirenis,  initiated  long 
before  by  Urania  in  the  knowledge  of  stars  and  of  di- 
vine prescience,  the  wise  old  men  having  but  seen  the 
threatening  aspect  of  the  sky,  from  a  high  hill,  suddenly 
cried  out:  "All-powerful  gods,  pity,  pity  for  unfortunate 
mortals !  How  many  disasters,  how  many  calamities  do 
I  see  suspended  above  your  heads?  An  awful  pestilence 
infecting  the  atmosphere,  impious  wars  desolating  Europe, 
blood  pouring  in  torrents  in  the  plains  of  Ausonia." 
Prophetic  words  which  he  himself  placed  in  his  writ- 
ings. 

The  time  had  come  when,  after  the  completion  of 
several  centuries,  the  sovereign  ruler  of  the  world  was, 
according  to  an  eternal  law,  to  future  destinies  of  the 
earth  and  of  the  heavens,  Jupiter  prepared  himself  for 
this  great  work,  to  which  he  invited  Mars  and  Saturn. 
On  the  appointed  day,  Cancer  opened  the  doors  of 
Olympus  to  the  Immortals.  Mars  was  the  first  to  cross 
the  threshold  of  the  sacred  place.  From  his  impetuous 
gait,  his  glistening  armor,  the  god  01  war  was  easily 
recognized,  the  cruel  god  who  slakes  his  thirst  with  blood 
and  carnage.  Calm  and  majestic  Jupiter  next  appeared, 
carried  on  a  golden  chariot,  Jupiter  always  benevolent 
and  good  to  mortals,  unless  contrary  destinies  claim  his 
clemency.  Saturn  came  last,  holding  his  scythe  in  his 
hand.  It  is  not  alone  the  fatigue  of  a  long  journey, 
joined  to  the  weight  of  years,  which  have  delayed  this 
old  man;  always  irritated  against  his  rebellious  son  and 
only  obeying  him  with  reluctance,  he  stopped  several 
times  on  the  road,  undecided  and  ready  to  retrace  his 

Page  Seventeen 


steps ;  even  when  entering  he  could  not  hide  his  anger 
nor  repress  muttered  threats. 

Nevertheless,  Jupiter  sat  on  the  throne  where  he  alone 
had  the  right  to  sit.  He  consults  the  oracles  and  regu- 
lates the  destinies  of  future  periods.  He  cannot  con- 
template, without  pain  and  compassion,  the  calamities  of 
all  sorts  that  will  afflict  the  world,  wars,  revolutions,  the 
demolition  of  Kingdoms  and  cataclysms  giving  up  the 
earth  to  the  empire  of  death,  a  new  and  fearsome  pesti- 
lence whose  ravages  the  resources  of  human  genius  will 
be  unable  to  stop !  Despite  this,  it  is  settled,  the  voice 
of  the  gods  has  shaken  Olympus  and  the  fatal  decree  is 
pronounced. 

A  subtle  poison  at  once  spreads  itself  in  the  ether 
and  disseminates  its  pernicious  effluvia  throughout  the 
immensity  of  space. 

What  was  the  origin  of  this  poison  ?  Are  we  to 
believe  that  the  sun's  rays,  associated  with  the  malign 
influence  of  the  stars,  raised  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth 
and  of  the  waters  unhealthful  vapors  which  spread  in 
the  air  contagious  miasms,  the  germs  of  a  disease  as  yet 
unknown?  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  were  these  miasms 
engendered  in  the  upper  regions  of  the  atmosphere,  from 
which  as  a  consequence,  they  descended  among  us  ?  It 
cannot  be  told,  how  many  mysteries  of  the  sky  unfold  to 
our  eyes,  how  difficult  it  is  to  go  back  to  the  origin  of 
causes,  which  at  times  are  separated  from  their  effects  by 
long  series  of  years,  and  at  others  are  mingled  with 
events  in  an  inextricable  confusion. 

Add  to  this  that  Nature  may  vary  at  its  will  the  in- 

Page  Eighteen 


fluence  of  epidemic  miasms.  Thus,  at  times,  the  infected 
air  pours  its  poisons  only  on  vegetation,  killing  the  flowers 
and  the  tender  buds,  tainting  the  wheat  with  an  unclean 
rust,  destroying  all  hopes  of  crops,  changing  seeds  as 
deep  as  the  very  bosom  of  earth.  At  other  times  it  is 
the  animals  only  that  are  struck,  and  that,  either  all  at 
once,  or  only  a  few  among  all.  I  remember,  for  instance, 
in  a  year  that  was  remarkable  not  only  for  an  unusual 
and  suspicious  fertility  of  the  soil,  but  also  by  an  exces- 
sive frequency  of  Southern  winds  and  of  autumnal  rains, 
that  all  goats — and  only  goats — were  affected  by  disease. 
They  came  out  of  the  sheds  full  of  vigor  and  health ; 
then,  at  the  same  moment  that  they  were  cheerfully 
browsing  the  grass  of  the  meadows,  they  were  attacked 
with  a  suffocating  cough,  a  certain  prelude  of  death. 
They  were  then  seen  to  turn  convulsively  on  themselves 
and  fall  exhausted,  among  their  companions,  and  soon 
give  up  their  last  breath.  Then,  a  surprising  thing;  in 
the  spring  and  in  the  summer  which  followed,  it  became 
the  turn  of  the  various  cattle,  whom  a  malignant  fever 
decimated  to  the  point  of  almost  completely  destroying 
them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  celestial  influences  are  varied 
in  an  infinite  degree  like  the  events  derived  from  them, 
and  to  each  one  of  them  is  intimately  bound  a  certain 
order  of  phenomena. 

And  on  the  other  hand,  what  diversity  in  the  morbid 
germs,  what  oddity  in  their  effects !  You  shall  judge  of 
them. 

The  miasms  contained  in  the  atmosphere  are  found 
in  direct  contact  with  the  eyes ;  well,  it  is  not  only  the 

Page  Nineteen 


eyes  that  they  affect,  it  is  the  lung  that  they  will  reach 
in  the  depths  of  the  chest !  In  the  same  manner  also 
we  occasionally  see  the  tender  grape  preserve  itself  intact 
next  to  hardier  fruits  which  die  away ;  and  when,  in  its 
turn,  it  dies,  either  by  impoverishment  of  the  seed,  or  by 
a  swelling  or  a  shrinking  of  its  pores,  it  is  never  so  except 
under  the  influence  of  causes  that  are  proper  to  it. 

Let  us  now  study  the  symptoms  of  this  scourge  which 
a  celestial  influx  has  caused  and  reproduced  after  centu- 
ries that  it  was  forgotton.  This  disease  does  not  affect 
the  dumb  inhabitants  of  the  wave,  nor  the  wild  beasts  of 
the  forests,  nor  the  birds  of  the  sky,  nor  horses  nor  cattle. 
It  only  has  to  do  with  man;  man  alone  is  its  prey. 

In  the  human  body,  it  is  the  blood  that  it  attacks  at 
first,  and,  feeding  on  naught  but  fat  and  viscid  humors, 
it  is  on  the  fat  and  corrupted  parts  of  this  fluid  that  it 
preferably  attaches  itself. 

Here  especially,  O  muse,  I  claim  thy  help  to  limn 
the  picture  of  this  execrable  pestilence.  Deign  also  to 
inspire  me,  Apollo,  god  of  the  day,  god  of  poetry,  and 
make  matters  such  that  my  work  may,  thanks  to  thee, 
remain  through  coming  centuries.  A  day,  in  fact,  may 
perhaps  come  when  our  great  grand  nephews  will  take 
the  pleasure  of  consulting  the  description  of  a  forgotten 
disease.  Forgotten,  yes,  for  no  one  doubts  at  a  given 
time  this  disease  will  return  into  the  clouds  of  nothing- 
ness. And  no  one  doubts  also  but  that,  after  another 
series  of  centuries,  it  will  return  to  the  light,  to  afflict 
anew  the  world  and  once  more  spread  terror  among  the 
peoples  of  another  age. 


Page  Twenty 


One  of  the  most  surprising  of  facts  is  that,  after  hav- 
ing contracted  the  germ  of  the  contagion,  the  victim  at- 
tacked by  the  scourge  does  not  often  present  any  lesion 
that  is  well  marked  before  the  moon  has  four  times  ac- 
complished its  travels.  The  disease,  in  fact,  does  not 
show  itself  at  once  by  accusing  symptoms  directly  that  it 
has  penetrated  the  organism.  For  a  certain  time  it 
broods  in  silence,  as  if  it  were  gathering  its  forces  for  a 
more  terrible  explosion.  During  this  period,  at  all  events, 
a  strange  languor  seizes  the  patient  and  depresses  his 
whole  being ;  his  mind  seems  heavy,  his  limbs  are  soft, 
and  weakening,  fail  for  work;  the  eye  loses  its  flash  and 
the  face  is  depressed  in  its  expression  and  has  become  pale. 

It  is  on  the  organs  of  generation  that  the  virus  first  is 
transported,  to  irradiate  from  there  to  the  neighboring 
parts  and  on  the  regions  of  the  groin. 

Soon  after,  more  well  defined  symptoms  show  them- 
selves. When  the  light  of  day  disappears  to  give  place 
to  the  shades  of  night,  at  the  time  when  the  inner  heat 
of  living  bodies  leaves  the  peripheral  t  =irts  to  concentrate 
upon  the  viscera,  atrocious  pains  suddenly  burst  forth  in 
the  limbs  charged  with  vitiated  humors  and  torture  the 
articulations,  the  arms,  the  shoulders,  the  calves.  It  is 
because  at  that  moment,  vigilant  Nature,  an  enemy  of  all 
impurity,  is  at  work  to  react  against  the  putrid  ferments 
which  the  disease  has  introduced  into  the  veins  and  with 
which  it  has  penetrated  all  the  humors,  all  the  nourishing 
juices  of  the  organisms.  She  strains  to  drive  them  away; 
she  energetically  fights  against  them.  But  they  resist ; 
thick,  viscid,  not  displacing  themselves  except   slowly, 

Page  Tweaty-ooe 


they  fix  themselves  on  the  muscles,  they  attach  them- 
selves to  the  exsanguined  framework  of  the  tissues,  and 
give  rise  to  horrible  sufferings  wherever  they  adhere. 

The  most  subtle  of  these  morbid  humors,  those  which 
are  the  most  easily  evacuated,  take  refuge  either  in  the 
skin  or  in  the  extremities  of  the  limbs.  They  then  pro- 
duce hideous  eruptions  on  those  points  and  these  exan- 
thems  soon  spread  over  the  whole  body  and  cover  the 
face  with  a  repulsive  mask. 

Unknown  up  to  our  days,  these  eruptions  consist  of 
pustules  and  conical  pimples,  which,  gorged  with  cor- 
rupted liquids,  are  not  slow  in  opening  to  allow  the 
escape  of  a  mucous  and  virulent  sanious  liquid.  Even, 
sometimes,  the  pimples  that  are  similar  develop  in  the 
depths  of  organs  and  noiselessly  corrode  the  tissues.  It 
is  thus  that  horrible  ulcers  are  seen  covering  the  limbs, 
denuding  the  bones,  eating  the  lips  and  penetrating  the 
throat,  from  which  there  only  issues  a  weak  and  plaintive 
voice. 

At  other  times,  again,  there  exhales  from  the  skin 
thick  humors  which  dry  into  fearsome  crusts  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  integument.  Like  these  are  seen  the  viscid 
juices  which  come  from  the  cherry  tree  or  the  almond  tree 
condensing  in  a  gummy  callus  on  the  bark  of  these  trees. 

Ah !  how  many  patients,  sorrowful  victims  of  this 
plague  have  contemplated  with  horror  their  faces  and  their 
bodies  covered  with  the  hideous  taints,  deploring  their 
youth  destroyed  in  its  bloom,  and  have  cursed  the  gods  and 
threatened  the  sky  !  Unfortunates  !  Night  which  pours 
sweet  repose  upon  all  nature,  has  no  more  charms  for 

Page  Twenty -two 


them,  for  sleep  has  fled  from  their  eyes.  For  them,  in 
the  same  manner,  aurora  comes  without  attractions,  for 
day  like  night  recalls  their  pains.  The  pleasures  of  the 
table,  joyous  feasts,  the  intoxicating  gifts  of  Bacchus,  the 
festivities  of  the  city,  the  delights  of  the  country,  nothing 
smiles  for  them  any  more.  Vainly  do  they  search  for  a 
respite  to  their  sufferings  on  green  banks  made  pleasant 
by  the  purling  of  streams,  in  the  shade  of  valleys,  and  in 
the  solitude  of  mountains.  Desperate,  lost,  they  return 
addressing  ardent  prayers  to  the  gods,  burning  expiatory 
incense  in  the  temples,  loading  altars  with  rich  gifts. 
Useless  trouble !  The  gods  remain  deaf  to  their  voices 
and  disdain  their  sacrifices. 

O  painful  recollection !  In  rich  Canomania,  which 
the  Olilius  renders  fertile  before  uniting  its  waves  with 
those  of  the  Sabine,  there  lived  a  young  and  rich  patrician 
whom  all  Ausonia  could  have  envied  for  his  renown  and 
happiness.  Strong  in  the  flower  of  his  age,  he  took 
pleasure  either  in  mastering  the  nature  of  an  untrained 
horse,  or  in  shining  in  a  tourney  his  helmet  on  and  sword 
in  hand,  or  contesting  for  the  prizes  of  a  trial  in  the  gym- 
nasium, or  in  hunting  the  deer,  or  in  forcing  wild  beasts 
back  into  the  depths  of  forests.  His  face  shone  with  a 
divine  beauty.  All  of  you,  O  nymphs  of  the  Olilius  and 
of  the  Eridan,  goddesses  of  the  fields  and  of  the  woods, 
all  I  say  burned  for  him  secret  fires  and  sought  his  love. 
And,  perhaps,  it  was  one  of  you,  irritated  by  his  indiffer- 
ence, who  called  upon  his  head  the  anger  of  the  gods. 
Alas !  he  enjoyed  life  in  full  security  when  the  terrible 
scourge  struck  him.     Ah !    never  was  seen,  and  never 

Page  Twenty- three 


more  will  the  lamentable  victim  be  seen !  Flower  of 
youth,  the  brilliance  of  health,  the  vigor  of  the  soul,  all 
these  wither  in  him  under  the  pressure  of  an  unpitying 
disease.  A  hideous  leprosy  invades  his  entire  body  ;  his 
swollen  bones  become  a  prey  to  caries ;  his  nose  is  eaten 
by  a  malignant  ulcer ;  and,  as  a  limit  of  affliction,  his 
eyes,  so  beautiful,  the  clear  mirrors  of  the  day  are  de- 
voured by  a  fearsome  ulcer !  Death  finally  took  pity  on 
him  and  hastened  the  end  of  his  torture.  Long  regrets 
followed  him  from  the  nymphs  of  the  woods  and  of  the 
fields ;  the  Alps,  the  Olilius  and  the  Eridan  gave  their 
tears,  and  the  Sabine  itself  gave  a  muffled  groan  at  the 
news  of  his  demise. 

Such  were  the  evils  that  Saturn  spread  upon  the 
earth  in  those  fateful  days!  And  not  less  enraged 
against  us,  Mars  afflicted  us,  at  the  same  time,  with  a 
thousand  disasters.  It  seemed  as  if  the  Eumarides  had 
been  sworn  to  encompass  our  ruin,  and  that  from  the 
bottom  of  the  Styx  or  the  depths  of  Tartarus  hell  had 
unchained  upon  us  all  the  scourges  at  one  time,  pesti- 
lence, war,  famine  and  death ! 

O  Saturn,  father  of  Latium,  O  protecting  gods  of 
Ausonia,  what  crimes  have  your  children  committed  to 
merit  such  punishments?  Is  there  any  affliction,  is  there 
some  pain  which  we  have  not  exhausted?  Was  there 
ever  a  nation  more  cruelly  tried  by  the  vengeance  of 
heaven?  I,  Parthanope,  shall  be  the  first  to  tell  of  the 
disease  to  which  thou  has  submitted  us,  the  massacre  of 
thy  Kings,  the  ravage  of  thy  states,  the  captivity  of  thy 
people !     Shall  I  also  speak  of  those  murderous  combats 

Page  Twenty-fo«r 


which  witnessed  the  flowing  Italian  blood  mingled  with 
the  French?  Shall  I  tell  of  those  days  of  carnage 
when  the  reddened  waves  of  the  Tar  poured  into  the 
Eridan  so  many  spoils  of  war,  so  many  dead  bodies  of 
men  and  of  hair  piled  about  in  confusion?  Even  thou, 
nymph  of  Abdua,  did  not  fail  to  see  thy  bosom  soiled 
by  the  blood  of  ours,  and  the  Eridan  could  not  allay 
thy  pain  except  by  mingling  its  tears  with  thine,  by 
uniting  its  waves  with  thy  desolate  billows !  And  thus, 
unfortunate  Ausonia,  thus  it  is  that  discord  has  ruined 
thy  power  and  has  robbed  thee  of  the  sceptre  of  the 
world,  the  heritage  of  thy  ancestors.  Does  there  remain 
in  the  whole  extent  of  thy  empire,  does  there  remain  a 
single  shred  of  ground  which  has  not  suffered  the  out- 
rages of  conquest,  the  insult  of  the  conqueror  and  the 
horror  of  carnage  ?  Answer,  ye,  banks  which  the 
Erethene  fecundates  before  precipitating  itself  in  the 
Adriatic,  mingling  its  waves  with  those  of  the  river  of 
the  Euganeans,  answer  calm  vineyards,  who  until  then 
had  never  known  the  click  of  arms  or  the  brawl  of 
combats ! 

O  my  fatherland,  sacred  soil,  cradle  of  the  gods, 
Italy,  mother  of  so  many  heroes,  opulent  country  which 
the  Adigus  and  the  Benacus  fecundate,  thou  whom  the 
entire  world  envied  formerly  for  its  peaceful  prosperity, 
who  today  would  be  able  to  recite  thy  own  fortunes,  to 
enumerate  thy  disasters,  thy  outrages,  thy  sufferings? 
Ah,  lower  thy  head,  bend  thy  humiliated  face.  Bena- 
cus, go,  thy  waves  no  longer  bathe  the  land  of  laurels ! 
And,  as  if  so  much  misfortune,  and  so  many  troubles 

Page  Twenty-five 


were  not  enough,  here  is  the  limit  of  affliction,  that  the 
hope  of  Latium,  the  honor  of  letters,  the  loved  disciple 
of  Pallas,  has  been  taken  from  us.  Mark  Anthony  is  no 
more !  Jealous  death  snatched  him  from  the  arms  of 
the  Muses  and  struck  him  in  the  springtime  of  his  age. 
He  now  rests  on  the  rocky  banks  where  the  Banacus 
rolls  its  murmuring  waves.  The  Nymphs  of  the  Adiga 
weep  for  him ;  for  the  adjacent  groves  heard  during  one 
night  the  well  beloved  voice  of  Catullus  sighing  melo- 
dious regrets  on  his  tomb.  And,  at  the  same  time,  the 
armies  of  the  King  of  France  devastated  our  provinces 
and  subjugated  Liguna.  The  emperor,  on  the  other 
hand,  passed  iron  and  fire  over  the  territory  of  the 
Euganeans,  ravaging  the  shores  of  the  Sila  and  loading 
with  chains  the  rebellious  Frioul ;  entire  Italy  was  plunged 
into  mourning  and  desolation  ! 

Syphilidis  Liber  Secundus. 

I  will  now,  following  my  work,  state  here  the  diet 
and  treatment  which  are  proper  to  oppose  to  the  disease 
according  to  its  phases  and  different  forms;  I  will  reveal 
the  marvelous  agents  which  were  discovered  to  com- 
bat it. 

At  the  beginning,  amid  the  consternation  produced 
by  a  disease  unknown  up  to  that  time,  a  thousand  reme- 
dies were  tried  which  were  all  powerless.  But  stimula- 
ted by  the  darts  of  sufferings,  otherwise  illuminated  by 
his  first  reverses,  man  learned  how  to  find  new  arms 
against  this  redoubted  enemy ;    he  fought    against    the 

Page  Twenty-six 


scourge,  he  threw  it,  he  was  enabled  one  day  to  pro- 
claim himself  victor. 

I  believe,  to  tell  the  truth,  that  divine  help  was  not 
a  stranger  to  this  victory  and  sustains  us  at  our  wish  in 
these  cruel  trials.  For,  at  the  very  time  when  evil  doing 
stars  persuade  us  with  their  anger,  Heaven  had  for  us 
pitying  looks  and  gave  us,  in  the  midst  of  our  misfor- 
tunes, days  of  peaceful  prosperity.  Our  century,  with- 
out doubt,  has  undergone  misfortunes  without  number. 
It  has  seen  the  world  invaded  by  a  new  pestilence ;  it 
has  seen  impious  wars  overturn  empires,  and  drench  our 
devastated  homes  with  blood,  terrible  fires  consume 
entire  cities,  sacreligious  cohorts  profane  sacred  temples, 
terrible  famines  render  desolate  the  universe,  inundations 
submerge  our  fields  and  carry  off  on  their  way,  men, 
flocks,  crops  and  forests  S  But  this  same  country,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  viewed  the  most  majestic  spectacles  that 
were  ever  produced  in  the  eternity  of  ages.  It  has  seen 
our  intrepid  fleets  conquer  the  immensity  of  the  seas. 
We  had  already  discovered  the  Hesperides,  neighbors 
of  Atlas ;  already  we  had  doubled  Presson,  under  the 
antarctic  pole,  explored  the  precipitous  banks  of  the 
Raptus  and  gathered  the  tributes  of  Persia  and  of 
Arabia.  All  these  conquests,  nevertheless,  did  not  suf- 
fice for  our  ambition ;  we  had  to  push  back  the  limits  of 
the  old  world.  For  this  purpose  our  hardy  navigators 
penetrated,  beyond  the  Indies  and  the  Ganges,  into 
those  countries  which  look  upon  the  rise  of  Aurora  and 
up  to  Cyambus  whose  forests  give  us  ebony  and  macer; 
for  these  things,  and  guided  by  the  gods,  our  valiant 

Page  Twenty-seven 


squadron  approached  a  new  continent,  different  from  ours 
both  in  its  peoples  and  in  the  splendor  of  its  firmament. 
Our  century  may  also  honor  itself  in  that  sublime 
poet,  who  celebrated  in  his  verses  the  great  cycles  of 
the  stars,  the  gardens  of  the  Hesperides  and  the  revolu- 
tions of  the  sky.  Parthenope  and  the  Sebethus  ap- 
plauded his  divine  accents,  and  the  sacred  manes  of 
Virgil  shook  at  his  voice. 

And  if  thy  modesty,  illustrious  Bembo,  forces  me  to 
forget  thee  here,  thou  and  several  of  our  contemporaries 
whom  grateful  posterity  will  place  in  the  same  rank  as 
the  greatest  geniuses  of  antiquity,  how  could  I  not  men- 
tion, among  the  glories  of  this  country,  the  name  of  the 
illustrious  pontiff  whom  Rome  is  proud  to  obey  and  of 
whom  Latium  is  so  proud?  Under  thy  auspices,  O 
Leo,  the  malign  influences  of  the  stars  have  vanished, 
and  Jupiter  has  not  poured  upon  us  any  but  the  propi- 
tious fires  of  his  purest  rays.  It  is  thou,  and  thou  alone, 
who,  after  so  many  disturbances  and  storms,  hast  re- 
called to  us  the  exiled  muses ;  it  is  thou  who  hast  re- 
turned to  Italy  both  her  ancient  laws,  and  her  sanctuaries 
of  justice,  and  her  sacred  temples.  It  is  thou  who,  for 
the  defense  of  Rome,  and  of  our  altars,  art  preparing 
today  a  holy  crusade ;  and  already,  at  the  mere  sound 
of  thy  arms,  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile  shake  with 
terror,  the  Euxine  retreats  frightened,  and  the  nymph  of 
the  Egean  flees  all  lost  to  the  Doric  shore. 

But  I  must  leave  to  other  voices  the  honor  of  cele- 
brating so  many  brilliant  facts ;  perhaps  noble  Bembo, 
thou  deservest  for  thyself  the  care  of  marking  for  future 

Page  Twenty -eight 


centuries  the  memorable  history.  My  muse  dares  not 
aspire  to  such  subjects ;  she  has  put  upon  herself  a  more 
humble  task,  whose  course  she  will  pursue. 

Blood  has  not  the  same  identical  composition  in  all 
patients.  If  it  is  pure,  it  is  a  good  presage ;  if,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  thick,  superabundant  and  charged  with 
bile,  the  disease,  under  such  conditions  will  be  more 
serious,  more  rebellious,  and  will  only  give  way  to  the 
use  of  more  energetic  measures,  as  well  as  more  violent. 

That  which  is  the  most  essential  to  a  cure,  is  to 
surprise  the  disease  at  its  inception,  to  strangle  it  in  the 
form  of  a  germ  before  it  has  had  time  to  invade  the 
viscera.  For  when  it  has  penetrated  into  the  organism, 
when  it  has  taken  root  and  developed  its  ravages,  it  is 
alas!  but  at  the  price  of  rough  experience  that  one 
can  succeed  in  expelling  it.  Apply  yourself  then,  be- 
fore all,  to  combat  it  at  its  very  inception,  and  engrave 
in  your  mind  the  precepts  which  will  follow. 

Patients,  the  quality  of  the  air  that  you  breathe,  is 
far  from  being  an  indifferent  matter.  Learn  how  to 
avoid  winds  from  the  south ;  flee  from  the  fogs  and  from 
wet  grounds  with  pernicious  effluvia.  Choose  for  a  stay 
a  laughing  country  with  uncovered  horizon  or  some  hill- 
side bathed  by  the  sun.  Only  there  will  you  find  pure 
air,  continually  renewed  by  the  winds  and  the  friendly 
zephyrs. 

Especially  guard  yourself  against  laziness  and  non- 
chalance. Go,  go  drive  in  their  dens  the  bear  and  the 
boar ;  hunt  the  deer  from  the  crests  of  mountains  to  the 
foot  of  the  valleys  and  into  the  depths  of  the  woods. 

Page  Twenty -nine 


As  a  fact,  I  have  often  seen  the  disease  clear  up  by  the 
sweating  and  cure  after  long  runs  in  the  forests.  This 
is  not  all.  Without  false  shame,  take  in  hand  the 
plough  and  turn  its  share  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth; 
armed  with  a  hoe  tear  up  the  underbrush,  strike  with  an 
axe  the  towering  oak,  uproot  the  sycamore.  Even  at 
home  or  in  the  evening,  do  not  remain  inactive.  May 
dancing,  shuttle-cock  and  palestra  be  then  for  you  useful 
and  salutary  exercises.  No  truce  for  the  disease ! 
And,  if  such  labors  cause  you  to  often  bitterly  regret 
the  charms  of  a  sweet  repose  and  the  delights  of  a  soft 
and  downy  couch,  resist,  resist  with  courage!  Sleep 
and  repose  are  your  enemies;  under  the  appearance  of 
a  deceptive  ease,  they  would  do  naught  but  feed  and 
render  worse  the  disease  in  your  bosom. 

Drive  away  far  from  you  the  anxieties,  preoccupa- 
tions, and  regrets;  far  from  you  the  trouble  of  passions 
and  the  assiduity  of  serious  studies !  What  suits  your 
state  is  the  mild  business  of  the  muses,  it  is  joyous 
couplets,  and  frolicsome  dances.  At  all  events  do  not 
succumb  to  the  attractions  of  love  ;  nothing  could  be 
more  harmful,  and  your  kisses  would  taint  the  tender 
daughters  of  Venus  with  a  detestable  contagion.  Noth- 
ing is  more  important  for  you  than  the  ordering  of  your 
diet  and  the  choice  of  foods.  Upon  this  point  redouble 
your  attention  and  vigilance.  In  the  first  place  banish 
from  the  table  all  fish,  no  matter  which  they  are,  fish 
from  rivers  or  ponds,  from  fresh  or  from  salt  water.  At 
most  you  may,  in  case  of  necessity,  indulge  in  those  that 
are  fished  near  bluffs  or  falls  and  whose  meat  is  white, 

Page  Thirty 


soft  and  delicate;  such  are,  for  example,  the  phycine, 
the  dorade,  the  gudgeon,  the  perch,  friend  of  rocky 
shores,  and  the  scare,  sole  ruminant  of  the  waves,  the 
constant  guest  of  the  mouths  of  rivers.  Also  abstain 
from  aquatic  birds  which,  living  along  the  banks  of  rivers 
or  in  swamps,  feed  on  nothing  but  fish.  In  the  same 
manner  avoid  duck  with  its  flesh  charged  with  fat, 
goose,  which  long  ago  saved  the  Capital,  the  full  quail, 
the  bacon  and  entrails  of  the  hog,  the  loin  of  boars 
which  have  fallen  under  your  blows  in  your  murderous 
hunts,  cold  cucumber,  provocative  truffles,  artichokes, 
onions  with  the  acrid  and  piquant  taste,  vinegar  and 
milk. 

Do  not  let  yourself  be  tempted  either  by  the  spark- 
ling or  frothy  wines  of  the  shores  of  Corsica,  of  Faler- 
num  or  of  Puini,  or  those  which  are  produced  in  our 
small  forms  by  the  grape  of  Rhetia.  Nothing  will  be  less 
healthful  for  you  than  the  light  wines  of  the  Sabine  or 
those  of  which  the  Naiads  will  have  dulled  the  generous 
odors.  On  the  other  hand,  that  of  which  you  may  freely 
use,  is  comprised  in  all  simple  foods  which  are  healthful 
and  of  which  Nature  is  generous  in  gardens,  and  which 
are  the  delight  to  the  gods ;  mint,  cress,  chicory,  hare's 
lettuce  whose  flower  braves  hoar  frost,  skirret,  the  friend 
of  small  streams,  sweet  marlum,  calamus  with  perfumed 
odor,  the  coquettish  melissa,  ox-tongue  which  thrives  best 
on  the  edges  of  fountains,  packet,  spinage,  sorrel,  sam- 
phire with  salty  buds,  hops  which  interlaces  with  brush, 
byronia  of  which  I  advise  you  to  gather  the  young  before 
the  adult  branch  has  spoilt  the  shoots  and  spread  its  seeds 

Page  Thirty-one 


that  are  turning  green.  But  I  stop,  for  I  cannot  mention 
all.  Other  cares  demand  my  attention  also.  O  muse, 
it  is  time  to  leave  the  shade  of  Aonia  to  approach  the 
domain  of  nature.  A  new  career  opens  before  my  steps. 
May  I  gather  there,  in  default  of  poetic  laurels,  the  hum- 
bler crown  of  oak  leaves,  as  the  prize  of  my  efforts  de- 
voted to  the  saving  of  so  many  victims !  If  the  disease 
occurs  in  Spring  or  even  in  Autumn,  if  the  patient  is 
young,  robust,  and  plethoric,  the  indication  is  to  open 
the  basilic  vein  or  even  the  median,  in  order  to  free  the 
body  of  corrupted  blood.  In  addition,  no  matter  what 
the  season,  hasten  to  place  purgatives  at  work ;  for,  this 
is  the  most  certain  means  of  evacuating  peccant  humors 
and  morbid  ferments.  At  all  events  it  is  proper  not  to 
have  recourse  to  them  until  after  due  preparation  of  the 
channels  by  resolvents,  cutting  medicines,  and  such  as 
delay  action. 

Now,  to  work !  First  of  all  prepare  a  decoction  in 
which  you  will  add  to  the  thyme  of  Crete  that  of  para- 
philia so  similar  to  thymber,  almost  to  its  hardness,  the 
tops  of  hops  with  the  undulating  stem,  fennel,  smallage, 
fumitory,  whose  leaves  simulate  the  arms  of  marine  pulp, 
capillaria  which  remains  dry  on  the  bosom  of  the  waters, 
sterile  ceterach,  hart's  tongue  with  reddish  filiata.  Make 
use  of  this  remedy  until  all  the  humors  have  arrived  to  a 
perfect  cooking.  Then,  at  that  moment  seize  the  favor- 
able occasion  to  put  to  use  the  favorable  properties  of 
squills  with  the  acrid  taste,  of  bitter  colocynth,  of  helle- 
bore, sea  star  whose  flowers  change  color  three  times 
daily,  ginger,  wild  cucumber,  olibanum,  myrrh,  bdellium, 

Page  Thirty-two 


gum  ammoniac,  opoponax  and  hermodactylum.  Having 
done  this,  if  your  constitution  is  delicate  or  enfeebled  and 
refuses  the  use  of  these  violent  remedies  which  could 
assure  your  liberty  in  a  short  time,  it  is  proper  to  have 
recourse  only  to  a  medication  that  is  more  mild  and  more 
slowly  curative.  In  such  a  case  here  are  the  remedies 
to  employ  to  complete  the  cure  and  dissipate  the  last  re- 
mains of  a  disease  which  is  ever  ready  to  take  on  insidi- 
ous recrudescences. 

First  of  all,  on  account  of  their  drying  and  antiseptic 
properties,  resinous  substances  of  all  sorts  are  indicated 
such  as  myrrh,  olibanum,  the  resin  of  cedar,  aspalath, 
cypress  with  its  evergreen  foliage,  aromatic  gallingate» 
odoriferous  cassia,  cinnamon  with  two  perfumes,  carda- 
mon,  mace  and  aloe3  wood.  It  is  still  scordium,  a  strong 
antidote  whose  powers  dissipate  the  effects  of  all  poisons 
and  of  every  virus.  This  valued  plant  grows  in  the 
meadows  and  on  the  edges  of  marshes.  You  will  easily 
recognize  it  by  its  purple  flower,  its  odor  of  garlic,  of  its 
appearance  which  recalls  the  common  germanger.  Go 
and  pluck  in  the  morning,  at  sunrise,  the  leaves  and  the 
roots  to  prepare  a  salutary  decoction  of  which  you  will 
have  to  make  use  for  a  long  time. 

And  thou,  especially,  noble  lemon  tree,  the  pride  of 
the  Hespendes,  precious  gift  of  the  Orient,  fear  not  that 
my  muse  will  forget  thee  here.  Already  rendered  cele- 
brated by  illustrious  poets,  deign  again  to  accept  the 
homage  of  a  physician.  May  thy  brow  be  crowned 
with  eternal  verdure,  may  thy  thick  branches  be  deco- 
rated with  perfumed   flowers    and    bend    beneath   the 

Page  Thirty-three 


weight  of  their  golden  fruit!  Divine  tree,  which  Venus 
endowed  with  marvelous  powers  as  a  souvenir  of  her 
dear  Adonis,  we  hail  thee  who,  in  actual  trouble,  fur- 
nishes us  the  most  useful  help  for  our  disease. 

Another  remedy  imagined  by  the  industry  of  man. 
Look  at  that  glass  ball  with  a  tapering  neck,  with  a 
roundish  paunch.  There  has  just  been  poured  in  it  some 
water  together  with  a  few  handfuls  of  ivy  leaves  and  of 
dittany,  or  roots  of  orris,  of  perprunum  and  of  elder.  In 
a  short  time,  under  the  influence  of  the  flame,  the  liquid 
comes  to  a  small  boil ;  light  vapors  are  freed  and  fill  the 
dome  of  the  apparatus ;  but  hardly  have  they  touched 
its  walls  cooled  by  the  outer  air  than  they  condense  in  a 
dew,  running  on  the  cap  and  flowing  into  the  serpentine 
tube.  The  liquid  obtained  by  this  ingenious  distillation 
possesses  marvelous  powers  to  dissolve  the  last  ferments 
of  the  disease.  It  must  be  taken  hot  in  glassful  doses,  in 
the  morning  while  in  bed,  in  such  manner  as  to  excite 
copious  sweats.  During  the  course  of  th;«  treatment, 
there  are  at  times  noted  terrific  pains  which  cruelly  tor- 
ture the  limbs.  Hasten  to  alleviate  them  by  the  use  of 
different  topical  remedies,  such  as  notably  wool-fat,  oil 
of  mastic,  goose  grease,  linseed,  mucilage,  daffodils,  elder, 
honey,  saffron  of  Crete,  and  dregs  of  oil. 

At  other  times,  it  is  a  malign  ulcer  which  appears  in 
the  mouth  or  throat.  Attack  it,  without  loss  of  time, 
with  verdigris,  to  kill  it  in  its  germ  state,  before  it  has 
spread  its  ravages.  This  caustic  associated  with  fats  and 
with  dessicants,  will  be  equally  useful  to  employ  for  the 
destruction  of  pustules,  to  dissolve  callosities  and  cicatrize 

Poge  Thirty- foot 


eating  ulcers.  But  it  is  in  vain,  I  suppose,  that  you  have 
exhausted  the  entire  series  of  these  remedies ;  or,  per- 
haps, impatient  of  such  slowness,  relying  upon  your 
strength  and  your  health,  you  resolve  to  turn  to  more 
energetic  agents,  to  end  the  matter  with  the  hated  enemy 
as  soon  as  possible.  Be  it  so  !  I  will  show  you  these 
violent  and  expeditious  methods  which  can  triumph,  in  a 
short  time,  over  a  disease  that  is  usually  long  in  duration, 
stubborn,  subject  to  relapses  and  rebellious  to  mild  medi- 
cation. But  also  learn  the  price  you  will  have  to  pay 
for  your  hasty  deliverance. 

First  of  all  here  is  a  treatment  which  consists  in  the 
use  of  fumigations  composed  of  styrax,  of  cinnabar,  of 
minium,  of  antimony,  and  of  incense.  We  have  here, 
without  doubt,  an  active  medication,  which  succeeds  in 
cleaning  the  body  of  its  awful  taints ;  but  it  is  excessively 
violent,  irritating,  and  uncertain  in  its  results.  In  addition 
it  brings  on  respiratory  difficulties  and  a  true  suffocation. 
Therefore,  these  fumigations,  in  my  opinion  should  never 
be  used  on  the  entire  body ;  it  is  proper  to  limit  their 
action  to  those  parts  which  are  the  seat  of  eruptions  or 
of  ulcers.  Another  method  of  which  mercury  forms 
the  basis  is  much  preferable.  As  a  fact,  the  action  of 
mercury  on  the  scourge  is  marvelous,  either  because  its 
natural  affiinity  for  heat  and  cold  renders  it  proper  to  ab- 
sorb the  devouring  fire  of  the  disease;  or,  because  its 
surprising  density  permits  it  to  divide  and  to  dissolve  the 
humors  for  a  reason  that  is  analogous  to  that  which  gives 
to  incandescent  iron  a  caustic  action  more  marked  than 
that  of  a  light  flame ;  or  that  its  mobile  and  penetrating 

Page  Thirty-fiTe 


molecules,  apt  to  infiltrate  themselves  in  the  warp  of  tis- 
sues, have  the  power  of  pursuing  and  consuming  even  to 
the  b  ^ttom  of  organs  the  impure  yeasts  of  the  disease ; 
or  finally  that  its  magic  virtues  are  derived  from  some 
occult  force  whose  mystery  escapes  us.  But,  I  stop,  for 
before  all  I  must  here  state  how  that  remedy  was  re- 
vealed to  man  by  a  divine  hand,  and  celebrate  in  my 
verses  this  good  deed  of  the  gods. 

In  a  valley  of  Syria,  shaded  by  the  luxuriant  foliage 
of  willows  and  cut  by  the  murmuring  waves  of  Calhrhoe, 
there  formerly  lived,  it  is  said,  a  husbandman  named 
Ilceus.  He  divided  his  tranquil  life  between  the  labors 
of  his  field,  and  the  cultivalion  of  a  garden  consecrated  to 
the  gods  of  the  field  in  which  grew  through  his  care  gallin- 
gate,  the  cassia  tree,  and  perfumed  ginger.  Suddenly, 
O  horrors,  he  was  struck  by  the  terrible  scourge.  The 
unfortunate  man,  in  his  distress,  called  the  heavens  to  his 
aid:  "Ye  gods  that  I  adore,"  he  cried,  "have  pity  on  my 
torture!  And  thou,  beneficent  Callirhoe,  thou  who  al- 
ways curest  our  ills,  do  not  forget  that  but  a  few  days 
since  I  made  an  offering  to  thee,  on  the  trunk  of  an  oak, 
of  the  carcass  of  the  deer  that  had  fallen  under  my  blows. 
Powerful  divinities,  if  your  clemency  delivers  me  from 
this  awful  disease  which  tortures  me  night  and  day,  my 
grateful  hand  will  not  cease  to  load  your  altars  with 
crowns  and  flowers.  From  this  time  on  my  most  pleas- 
ing violets  and  my  whitest  lilies  go  to  you;  to  you  the 
budding  roses  and  the  first  hyacinths  of  my  humble  place." 
He  spoke  and  fell  back  exhausted  on  the  grass. 

Page  Thirty-aix 


At  that  time  Callirhoe  was  bathing  herself  in  a 
neighboring  grotto.  She  heard  his  prayer  and  those 
vows.  She  at  once  answered  Ilceus  by  the  cares  ing 
murmur  of  her  limpid  waves  which  flowed  upon  the  moss 
of  the  rocks.  She  then  sent  him  sleep  to  assuage  his 
pains;  and,  whilst  he  was  resting  in  peace  beneath  the 
fresh  shade  of  the  willows,  she  appeared  to  him  in  a 
dream,  arising  from  the  bosom  of  the  waters,  and  said* 

"Ilceus,  at  last  the  gods,  in  answer  to  my  prayer, 
have  taken  pity  on  thee,  but,  alas!  the  remedy,  the  only 
remedy,  that  may  cure  thee  of  thy  ills,  thou  shall  hunt  in 
vain  in  this  part  of  the  world  that  the  Sun  lights  with  his 
rays.  Such  in  fact  is  the  inexorable  chastisement  which 
has  been  visited  upon  thee  by  Diana  and  her  brother 
Apollo,  the  very  day  that  thou  didst  pierce  with  thy  ar- 
rows the  sacred  deer  of  whose  carcass  thou  didst  make 
an  offering  to  me.  Diana  saw  thy  victim  panting  upon 
the  ground  and  bathed  in  blood;  she  saw  thy  fatal  trophy 
suspended  on  one  of  the  oaks  of  the  neighboring  forest; 
and  in  her  grief  she  cursed  thee!  It  is  she  and  the  son 
of  Latona,  excited  against  thee  by  the  anger  of  his  sister, 
who  have  afflicted  thee  with  a  horrible  disease;  and  both 
have  sworn  that  every  where  in  which  their  empire  extends 
thou  shalt  find  no  remedy  for  thy  sufferings.  There 
remains  for  thee,  as  the  only  resource,  to  seek  thy  safety 
in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  a  id  the  darkness  of  the  infer- 
nal regions.  Listen!  Under  a  neighboring  rock,  a  dark 
cavern  opens  and  it  reveals  to  the  eyes  of  mortals  a  dense 
forest  of  oak  trees;  a  horrible  chasm,  which  is  terrifying,  in 

Page  Thirty-seven 


which  the  cedar  with  plaintive  murmurs  alone  troubles 
the  eternal  silence.  Let  the  next  sunrise  see  thee  there, 
immolate  a  black  sheep  and  offer  it  to  Cybele,  burning 
cypress  and  thuja  in  honor  of  Erebus,  of  the  shades  and 
of  the  unknown  divinities  of  Tartarus.  Thy  prayers  will 
be  heard,  and  a  nymph  will  come  offering  herself  to  thee 
as  a  guide  for  thy  steps  in  the  dark  roads  which  lead  to 
the  center  of  the  earth.  She  herself,  will  also  point  out 
to  thee  the  remedy  that  thou  implorest.  Take  courage! 
And  do  not  believe  thyself  to  be  deceived,  at  this  time, 
by  the  illusion  of  a  dream.  Look,  recognize  me!  I  am 
Callirhoe,  the  Nymph  friend,  whose  waters  fecundate 
the  fields  which  thou  dost  cultivate."  She  had  spoken 
and  at  once  plunged  in  the  blue  waves. 

Ilceus  awakes,  "intoxicated  with  joy."  "Beneficent 
goddess,"  he  cries,  "I  accept  thy  presage,  I  will  obey 
thee;  I  will  go,  divine  virgin,  whither  thy  voice  calls  me!" 

The  next  day,  at  the  earliest  streak  of  dawn,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  the  cavern.  He  found  its  entrance  under  im- 
mense rocks  which  the  tree  of  Jupiter  has  covered  with 
its  branches.  On  the  threshold  of  the  chasm,  he  im- 
molates a  black  sheep  which  he  offers  as  a  sacrifice  to 
powerful  Cybele.  Then,  he  burns  the  thuja  and  the 
cypress  in  honor  of  Erebus  and  of  the  divinities  of  the 
dark  shores.  Suddenly  there  arises  a  voice  which  over- 
throws the  subterranean  echoes;  it  is  the  sacred  voice  of 
the  goddess! 

The  nymphs  of  the  earth  who  preside  over  the  met- 
als, were  occupied  at  that  moment  in  uniting  liquid 
sulphur  with  the  silvered  wave  of  mercury,  a  marvelous 

Page  Thirty-eight 


amalgam  which,  hardened  by  the  bath,  transforms  itself 
into  pure  gold.     All  ready,  for  this  divine  work,  un- 
known to  mortals,  and  they  alloyed  a  hundred  rays  of 
flame  and  a  hundred  molecules  of  burnt  air  with  two 
hundred  germs  borrowed  either  from  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  or  the  bosom  of  the  waters.     When  the  voice  of 
Cybele  resounded,  seized  by  a  religious  alarm,  they  sus- 
pended all  their  labors,  and  one  of  them,  detached  her- 
self from  her  companions,  and  approached  at  once  the 
entrance  to  the  cavern.     It  is  the  nymph  Lipara  to  whom 
is  confided,  in  the  dark  empire,  the  task  of  purifying  by 
fire,  gold,  silver  and  the  sacred  bitumens.     Addressing 
Ilceus:  "I  know,"  she  told  him,  "thy  name  and  thy  mis- 
fortunes; I  know  the  design  that  brings  thee  here.     Be 
without  fear.     It  is  not  in  vain  that  a  goddess  beloved 
by  us  has  promised  thee  our  help.     The  remedy  that 
thou  seekest  is  here.     Come,  follow  me  in  these  dark 
paths    which  lead    to  our  domain;  the  nymph  who  is 
speaking  to  thee  will  guide  thy  footsteps."     At  these 
words  she  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  cavern.     Ilceus 
followed  her  without  hesitation.     What  a  picture  then 
unrolled  itself  to  his  eyes!  There  were  here  gaping  gulfs, 
there  some  subterranean  rivers,  at  other  places  bottomless 
abysms    filled    by    eternal    night.       "We    are    here," 
says  Lipara,  "in  the  empire  of  Earth.     Several  divinities 
have  divided  among  themselves  these  darksome  places. 
Under  our  feet  extends  the  kingdom  of  Proserpine;  on 
its  arches   are   the  sacred  springs  from  which  pour  the 
rivers  which  then  roll  their  thundering  waves  to  the  sea. 


Page  Thirty-nine 


For  us,  this  is  our  domain.  My  sister  and  I  make  bronze, 
silver  and  gold,  it  is  1  who  guide  through  the  torn  sides 
of  this  mountain  the  threads  of  sulphur  whose  beneficent 
vapor  mingles  itself  with  the  water  of  thy  sweet  friend, 
Caliirhoe."  However,  they  continue  their  walk  in  the 
midst  of  the  darkness,  and  soon  they  begin  to  hear  the 
muffled  sounds  of  the  subterranean  braziers,  the  crack- 
ling of  flames  excited  by  the  sulphur  and  the  shaking  of 
the  bronze  which  is  slowly  boiling.  "We  now  approach," 
continued  the  nymph,  "where  Cybele  brings  forth  those 
metals  which  so  markedly  excite  the  envy  of  mortals. 
A  thousand  goddesses,  daughters  of  the  earth  and  of 
night,  inhabit  these  dark  homes  and  there  consecrate 
themselves  to  tasks  without  number.  The  one  distributes 
the  waters;  others  dig  the  earth  to  gather  the  sparse 
germs  of  flame  and  of  fire;  others,  finally  compose  the 
metallic  alloys,  which  they  subsequently  pour  into  molds 
or  which  they  harden  by  tempering.  The  narrow  path 
which  thou  seest  on  our  left  leads  to  the  arsenals  of  the 
Cyclops  of  Etna,  who  are  incessantly  hammering  iron  on 
the  resounding  anvils  and  whose  forges  belch  far  away 
on  the  earth  whirlwinds  of  smoke.  Finally  this  other 
road  to  the  right  will  lead  us  to  the  sacred  river  whose 
metallic  waves  carry  quicksilver  and  will  furnish  thee 
the  remedy,  the  only  remedy  that  is  good  for  thy  disease." 
They  then  entered  the  avenue  whose  arches  gar- 
nished with  tutty  are  traversed  by  threads  of  gold  and  of 
sulphur  of  scintillating  reflections.  Then  they  arrive  at 
the  banks  of  a  river  with  silvery  waves.  "Ilceus,"  says 
the  nymph,  "thou  hast  finally    reached   the  end   of  thy 

Page  Forty 


troubles.  When  that  sacred  stream  shall  have  passed 
over  thy  body  three  times,  thou  shalt  be  delivered  of  thy 
disease  and  its  impure  poison."  At  these  words,  she 
plunges  her  virgin  hands  into  the  river;  three  times  she 
takes  out  of  it  the  liquid  metal  and  three  times  she 
spreads  it  on  the  limbs  of  Ilceus.  O  prodigy!  It  is  done! 
The  disease  at  once  disappears,  and  his  hideous  covering, 
on  contact  with  this  glowing  flood,  dissolves  and  dis- 
appears in  a  moment! 

"Now  leave,"  continued  Lipara,  "go  find  the  day, 
the  pure  sky  and  the  fortunate  regions  that  the  sun  lights. 
But  let  thy  first  care  be  to  offer  a  sacrifice  to  Diana,  to 
the  gods  of  these  gloomy  places  and  to  the  goddess  who 
has  saved  thy  days." 

She  has  spoken  and  resumes  the  road  to  the  cavern. 
Ilceus  follows  her,  intoxicated  with  gratitude  and  joy;  he 
soon  passes  the  threshold  of  the  darksome  empire  and 
sees  again  the  radiant  clearness  of  day. 

Renown  immediately  seized  this  prodigy,  and  soon 
the  sublime  virtues  of  mercury  were  known  throughout 
the  universe. 

At  the  beginning,  mercury  was  employed  associated 
with  lard;  later  it  was  combined  with  the  turpentine  of 
Epirus  and  with  the  resin  of  the  majestic  birch.  Certain 
physicians  today  combine  it  with  horse  fat  or  bear's 
grease,  or  bdellium  and  with  the  juice  of  cedar,  others 
with  myrrh,  with  male  incense,  with  mibium  and  with 
burning  sulphur.  For  my  part,  I  prefer  to  alloy  it  with 
a  mixture  of  black  hellebore,  orris  root,  galbanum,  asa- 
fetida,  oil  of  mastic,  and  oil  of  native  sulphur. 

Page  Forty-oae 


Patients,  a  truce  to  the  disgust  which  may  be  caused 
by  this  remedy!  For  if  it  is  disgusting,  the  disease  is 
still  more  so.  Besides,  your  cure  is  at  this  price.  So, 
without  hesitation,  spread  this  mixture  on  your  body 
and  cover  with  it  your  entire  skin,  with  the  exception  of 
the  head  and  of  the  precordial  region.  Then,  carefully 
wrap  yourself  in  wool  and  tow;  then  get  into  bed,  load 
yourself  with  bed  covering  and  thus  await  until  a  sweat 
bathes  your  limbs  with  an  impure  dew.  Ten  days  in 
succession  renew  this  treatment,  for  ten  entire  days  you 
are  to  undergo  this  cruel  trial  whose  beneficial  effect  will 
not  cause  you  to  wait. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  very  soon  an  infallible  presage 
will  announce  to  you  the  hour  of  your  freedom.  Very 
soon  you  will  feel  the  ferments  of  the  disease  dissolve 
themselves  in  your  mouth  in  a  disgusting  flow  of  saliva, 
and  you  will  see  the  virus,  even  the  virus,  evacuate  itself 
at  your  feet  in  rivers  of  saliva. 

If,  during  the  course  of  this  treatment,  small  ulcers 
develop  in  your  mouth,  have  a  care  to  fight  them  with 
gargles  of  milk  or  by  a  decoction  of  pomegranate  privet. 
This  treatment  being  completed,  you  may  then,  without 
fear,  recall  Bacchus  to  your  table  and  enjoy  in  full  liberty 
the  generous  nectars  of  Phetia,  of  Falernum  and  of  Chios. 

The  disease  thus  subdued,  a  last  and  very  simple 
matter  remains  for  you  to  carry  out  in  order  to  complete 
your  victorious  work.  It  is  that  of  purifying  your  body 
of  the  last  taints  by  means  of  ablutions,  for  which  laven- 
der, marjaram,  rosemary,  verbena  and  clary  offer  you 
their  perfumed  odors. 

Page  Fotty-two 


SYPHILIDIS  liber  Tertius 

O  muse,  beyond  the  columns  of  Hercules  a  new  world 
claims  thee.  Listen  to  those  murmuring  waves  which 
call  thee  to  distant  shores.  Go,  take  thy  impulse  and 
celebrate  in  verses  the  foreign  tree  which  assuages  our 
pains  and  places  a  limit  to  our  affliction.  And  thou, 
celestial  Urania,  put  on  thy  medical  purple,  show  to  the 
peoples  of  Italy  thy  brow  crowned  with  the  August 
branches  of  Guaiac,  and  relate  the  wonderful  prodigies 
of  which  our  century  is  a  witness. 

Ah!  heroic  century,  may  some  day  an  illustrious 
poet  consecrate  the  accents  of  his  lyre  to  thee !  Let  him 
then  narrate  this  inspired  singer  of  heroes  and  of  glory, 
how  our  intrepid  fleets  set  out  to  conquer  another  conti- 
nent beyond  the  unknown  seas !  Let  him  sing  of  those 
new  worlds  recently  discovered,  their  cities,  their  rivers, 
their  different  peoples,  their  strange  customs,  their  skies 
bespangled  with  glittering  pleiades !  Let  him  relate  those 
combats,  those  memorable  battles  which  subjected  to  our 
laws  a  continent  until  then  ignored !  Let  him  especially 
note  for  the  admiration  of  future  centuries  that  frail  bark 
which  alone,  plows  with  its  bold  prow  the  immensity  of 
the  seas !  Happy  the  favorite  of  Apollo  who  will  be 
able  to  worthily  limn  such  marvels !  My  Muse  would  not 
dare  to  aspire  to  such  a  brilliant  task;  more  modest,  she 
will  do  naught  but  here  celebrate  a  sacred  tree;  she  will 
recite  its  virtues,  she  will  recount  how  it  was  discovered 
and  how  it  was  imported  among  us  from  a  distant  shore. 

Page  Forty-three 


Under  the  ardent  fires  of  Cancer,  in  the  bosom  of  an 
immense  sea  in  which  the  chariot  of  Phebus  plunges  at 
the  close  of  day,  an  island  extends,  narrow  and  long, 
which  the  Spanish  navigators  were  the  first  to  land  upon 
and  in  remembrance  of  their  country  they  called  His- 
paniola.  This  land  is  sown  with  gold;  but  that  which 
makes  a  greater  wealth  for  it  than  gold,  is  the  precious 
tree  to  which  natives  of  the  country  have  given  the  name 
of  Guaiac. 

Guaiac  has  a  stem  that  is  slender  and  cylindrical. 
Its  branches  which  are  broadly  spread  are  loaded  with 
a  thick  foliage  that  is  always  green,  its  fruit  consists  of 
small,  numerous  berries,  which  are  astringent  to  the  taste. 

Its  wood  has  the  hardness  of  iron;  under  heat  it  ex- 
udes a  sticky  resin;  when  cut  it  is  agreeably  shaded  in 
color;  green  and  shining  like  laurel  just  below  the  bark, 
it  takes  on  a  little  deeper  the  pale  gray  color  of  box,  and 
becomes  darker  up  to  black  near  its  central  portions,  in 
such  fashion  as  to  recall  the  tints  of  both  ebony  and  of 
walnut.  Suppose  that  to  these  different  colors  red  is 
added,  the  scarf  of  Iris  would  not  be  more  richly  streaked. 

The  natives  devote  an  extreme  amount  of  care  to  the 
culture  of  this  tree.  They  force  themselves  to  multiply 
it;  they  cover  their  highlands  and  lowlands  with  it.  They 
cherish  it,  and  they  worship  it  as  the  equal  of  a  saving 
god.  And  it  is  not  without  reason,  for  it  alone  furnishes 
a  remedy  against  the  implacable  scourge  which  the  heaven- 
ly ire  permanently  maintains  among  them. 

This  remedy  is  thus  prepared  by  them:  A  stout 
branch  is  detached  from  the  tree,  it  is  freed  of  its  bark, 

Page  Forty-four 


crushed  and  scraped;  the  different  fragments  thus  obtained 
are  first  left  in  water  to  digest  for  the  length  of  one  day 
and  one  night,  then  it  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  fire. 
Care  is  taken  to  manage  the  cooking  of  the  mixture  with 
economy,  in  such  manner  as  to  avoid  a  hard  ebullition 
and  so  as  not  to  lose  any  part  of  the  scum,  a  topic  that 
may  be  usefully  employed  for  ulcers  and  abscesses.  The 
liquid  is  evaporated  in  this  manner  until  reduced  to  one- 
half  and  then  carefully  recovered.  The  solid  residue  is 
then  again  taken  up  with  water,  shaken  up  with  honey 
and  again  cooked  with  a  care  that  is  entirely  similar. 

Of  these  two  decoctions  that  are  successively  made 
the  first  is  given  as  a  remedy  in  the  dose  of  two  glassfuls 
daily,  of  which  one  is  to  be  taken  at  the  rising  of  Aurora, 
and  the  other  at  the  time  that  twilight  begins  to  spread 
its  shadows  on  Olympus.  The  second  comprises  the 
only  drink  which  the  national  rite  and  the  religious  law 
of  the  country  permit  patients  to  use  at  their  meals.  The 
use  of  the  one  and  of  the  other  must  equal  in  duration 
the  length  of  time  that  it  takes  a  star  to  go  through  its 
course  to  rejoin  the  chariot  of  the  Sun. 

During  the  whole  course  of  this  treatment,  the 
patients  are  closely  confined  in  a  tightly  closed  apart- 
ment, sheltered  from  the  cold,  from  air  and  from  the 
inimical  draft  of  the  winds.  They  limit  themselves  to 
the  most  austere  diet,  to  the  most  rigid  fasting,  taking  no 
food,  except  a  quantity  such  as  is  indispensable  to  keep 
up  the  functions  and  preserve  life.  However,  they  easily 
support  this  diet,  thanks  to  the  sacred  drinks  which  sus- 
tain them  equally  like  a  celestial  ambrosia  and  furnish  to 

Page  Forty -fr»e 


their  famished  bodies  the  occult  principles  of  resistance 
and  of  nutrition.  After  each  dose  of  the  remedy,  they 
take  care  to  lie  in  bed  for  two  hours,  in  order  to  permit 
the  divine  nectar  to  penetrate  their  organs  and  to  purify 
them  by  salutary  sweats. 

And,  Diana,  O  Prodigy,  has  not  completed  her 
career  which  the  action  of  the  remedy  already  reveals. 
It  is  an  act  of  evil !  The  pustules  dry,  the  ulcers  heal, 
the  pains  disappear,  and  the  flower  of  youth  is  born 
again  with  the  return  of  health. 

I  will  tell  how  a  divine  hand  pointed  out  this  remedy 
to  the  natives  of  the  new  world,  and  how  the  helpful 
Destinies  imported  it  among  us. 

Departed  from  the  shores  of  Spain  in  search  of 
another  world,  an  intrepid  flotilla  sailed  on  far  away  seas 
which  are  present  at  the  setting  of  the  Sun.  Uncertain 
of  their  way,  they  proceeded  in  a  haphazard  way  on 
unknown  waves.  About  them  crowded  innumerable 
Nereids.  Nymphs  of  those  unexplored  seas,  they  had 
all  left  their  damp  homes  to  come  and  look  upon  those 
winged  vessels,  which,  their  sails  to  the  wind,  appeared 
to  them  to  fly  upon  the  deep. 

It  was  night.  From  the  serene  vault  of  the  firma- 
ment the  moon  spread  its  pure  rays  on  the  undulated 
surface  of  the  seas.  Raising  his  suppliant  looks  to  that 
star,  the  hero  who  commanded  the  fleet,  he  whom  the 
Destinies  had  chosen  for  the  grand  work  which  is  pre- 
paring itself,  implored  the  daughter  of  Latona  in  these 
terms:     "O  Phebe,  queen  of   night,  sovereign  of  these 

Page  Fotty-«ix 


waves,  twice  hast  thou  turned  thy  silvery  crescent  to  us, 
twice  hast  thou  filled  thy  course,  and  nothing  yet  offers 
itself  to  us  but  the  immensity  of  the  waves.  Land  flees 
before  us.  For  our  grace,  cause  some  shore  to  appear 
at  the  horizon,  and  direct  us,  O,  goddess,  to  those  worlds 
that  we  seek  for  so  long !" 

Diana  heard  the  prayer;  she  at  once  came  down 
from  the  sky,  borrows  the  features  of  the  Nereids 
Cynothos  and  Clotho,  then,  mingling  with  the  group  of 
nymphs  that  surrounded  the  fleet,  she  answered  the  hero 
in  these  words :  "Courage,  beloved  son,  courage  I  The 
days  that  will  shine  shall  not  be  done  without  land  ap- 
pearing before  thine  eyes,  without  a  port  to  shelter  thy 
vessels.  But  do  not  stop  at  the  first  shore  that  thou  shalt 
meet.  It  is  further  on  that  the  Destinies  call  thee.  Be- 
yond that  these  seas  hold  a  large  island  of  the  name  of 
Ophir;  there,  only  must  thou  limit  thy  course  and  found 
the  capital  of  thy  empire !" 

She  had  spoken,  and  touched  the  ship  with  her  hand, 
which,  pushed  by  favoring  winds,  lightly  passed  over  the 
azure  of  the  waves. 

The  chariot  of  Phebus  had  scarcely  emerged  from 
the  waves  when  a  foggy  point  appeared  at  the  horizon ; 
it  is  land  S  Soon,  as  a  fact,  the  squadron  came  in  view 
of  a  shore,  of  the  shore  so  long  desired.  It  lands,  it  salutes 
this  hospitable  soil,  and  returns  to  heaven  a  just  tribute 
of  actions  and  of  thanks.  Then  the  crew  seeks  in  repose 
new  strength  for  the  fatigues  that  are  to  come. 

Page  Forty-seven 


Four  days  pass  thus.  A  mild  breeze  arises  and  fills 
the  sails.  The  squadron  at  once  puts  to  sea  with  en- 
thusiasm. It  left  behind  it  the  island  of  Anthylie,  which 
floats  at  the  will  of  the  waves.  Hagie,  Ammerie,  the 
cursed  land  of  the  Cannibals,  and  Gyana  with  its  green 
shores,  and  then  it  noticed  an  archipelago  which  traces 
above  the  waters  escarped  heights.  Of  the  innumerable 
isles  which  compose  it,  there  is  one  that  is  crowned  by 
luxuriant  forests  and  which  pours  into  the  sea  a  large 
river  whose  bed  is  covered  with  gold.  Pure  rivulets 
cross  it,  and  cool  shades  make  charming  a  stay.  Se- 
duced by  so  many  attractions,  the  squadron  is  halted. 
The  sailors  landed  on  this  enchanting  shore  with  trans- 
ports of  joy.  Their  first  care  was  to  offer  a  sacrifice  to 
the  gods  of  this  place  and  to  the  Genius  of  the  river 
which  enriches  the  ocean  with  the  riches  of  its  waves. 
They  then  prepared  their  table  on  the  carpet  of  grass, 
and,  a  cup  in  the  hand,  celebrated  this  happy  day.  Some 
next  went  out  in  search  of  discoveries,  impatient  of 
knowing  if  this  land  had  inhabitants;  others  went  to  con- 
template the  river  with  scintillating  waves  and  gather  the 
scales  of  gold  with  which  its  bed  is  sown. 

Innocent  guests  of  this  country,  birds  with  red  bills, 
and  azure  plumage,  flew  at  this  moment  in  the  thick 
shades  which  bordered  the  banks.  The  sailors  perceived 
this  winged  assemblage;  they  at  once  seized  their  arque- 
buses, rival  arms  to  the  thunder,  terrible  arms  whose  secret 
Vulcan  revealed  to  the  Teutons,  the  day  that  it  pleased 
him  to  endow  mortals  with  the  bolts  of  Jupiter.  Each 
one  chose  and  adjusted  his  victim.    It  is  done,  the  burn- 

Page  Forty-eight 


ing  wicks  fire  the  powder,  a  murderous  mixture  of  sulphur, 
of  nitre  and  of  willow  charcoal;  the  lightning  flashes,  the 
shot  occurs,  the  balls  whistle  in  the  air,  and  the  ground 
is  covered  with  dead  bodies !  The  sky  at  the  same 
moment  is  lighted  up  by  thousands  of  fires,  lightnings  plow 
the  clouds  and  shakes,  by  its  angry  claps,  the  shore,  the 
forest  and  even  down  to  the  deep  caves  of  the  sea. 
Terrified,  those  of  the  birds  who  have  escaped  the  car- 
nage take  refuge  upon  the  heights  of  the  rocks,  or  ask  for 
refuge  from  the  darkest  caves.  But  one  of  them,  O 
prodigy,  stops  upon  a  pointed  peak  and  offers  these 
sinister  prophecies  :  "Cursed  strangers,  your  sacrehgious 
hand  has  struck  the  birds  of  the  Sun.  Woe  be  unto 
you !  Learn  from  me  the  punishment  with  which  Apollo 
will  visit  your  crime.  If  favorable  winds  have  brought 
you  to  the  banks  of  Ophir,  which  you  sought  for  such  a 
long  time,  it  is  only  at  the  price  of  thousands  of  disasters 
and  of  thousands  of  diseases  that  it  will  be  given  to  you 
to  reach  this  other  world  from  which  you  hope  to  steal 
its  ancient  liberty.  All  the  scourges  of  the  earth  and  of 
the  waves  will  be  let  loose  upon  your  heads.  War  will 
decimate  you;  these  waves  will  engulf  your  squadrons; 
this  shore  will  be  covered  with  your  remains,  and  very 
few  among  you  will  see  the  sky  of  your  native  land ! 
Europe  will  refuse  you  all  help,  and  whilst  Discord  will 
turn  against  you  your  own  arms,  this  land  will  bring  forth 
giants  to  crush  you.  In  fine,  an  unknown  pestilence  will 
spread  upon  you  its  noisome,  tainted  marks,  until  the  day 
when,  suppliants,  you  will  come  here  and  implore  pardon 

Pags  Forty-nine 


for  your  sacrilege  and  ask  from  this  forest  a  remedy  for 
your  sufferings !" — He  had  spoken,  and,  uttering  a  terrible 
whistle,  disappeared  in  the  depths  of  the  woods. 

Upon  hearing  this  fatal  prophecy  the  Spaniards  stood 
pale  with  terror  and  chilled  with  fear.  In  order  to  ap- 
pease the  celestial  anger,  they  hurried  to  offer  expiatory 
sacrifices  to  the  Sun,  to  the  sacred  birds,  and  to  the 
nymphs  of  the  forest.  They  implored  their  pardon; 
they  tried  all  means  to  bend  by  their  prayers  the  gods  of 
Ophir  and  the  Genius  of  the  sacred  river. 

Nevertheless,  men  of  a  race  that  was  unknown  sud- 
denly emerged  from  the  adjacent  woods.  Their  body 
was  as  black  as  their  hair;  their  chest  was  naked;  their 
forehead,  as  a  sign  of  peace,  was  bound  with  foliage. 
They  advance  toward  the  sea;  they  consider  with  stupe- 
faction the  gigantic  sides  of  the  vessels,  the  clothing  and 
the  arms  of  the  soldiers;  they  do  not  seem  to  be  able  to 
satisfy  their  eyes  with  the  spectacle  of  so  many  marvels. 
They  humbly  prostrate  themselves  before  the  Spaniards, 
whom  they  take  for  the  gods  or  messengers  of  the  sky, 
and  presenting  to  their  chief,  as  an  offering,  some  gold, 
wheat,  honey  and  fruits,  they  receive  in  return  clothing, 
wine  and  divers  presents.  The  wine  especially  seemed 
to  surprise  and  please  them  to  ecstacy  just  as  celestial 
ambrosia  would  a  mortal  admitted  to  the  table  of  the 
gods. 

Tokens  of  peace  are  exchanged,  and  a  reciprocal 
confidence  did  not  take  long  to  be  established.  The 
chiefs  of  the  two  nations  then  advanced  to  meet  one 
another  on  the  river  bank.    The  king  of  the  natives  car- 


Page  Fifty 


ried  in  his  belt  a  light  veil  bordered  with  emeralds  having 
green  reflections;  his  right  hand  is  armed  with  a  sharp 
javelin  and  his  left  with  the  threatening  skin  of  a  dragon. 
The  admiral  is  dressed  in  a  tunic  woven  with  gold,  on 
which  sparkle  gleaming  arms;  his  head  is  covered  with  a 
bronze  casque  surmounted  by  a  brilliant  plume;  upon  his 
shoulders  shines  a  collar  of  gold;  a  Toledo  blade  hangs 
at  his  side.  One  and  the  other,  as  a  sign  of  peace,  ex- 
change a  fraternal  embrace.  The  union  between  the 
two  people  is  then  complete ;  it  is  soon  cemented  by  a 
reciprocal  hospitality,  and,  be  it  aboard  the  Spanish  ves- 
sels, or  on  land  in  the  cottages  of  the  natives,  feasts  and 
joyous  banquets  make  sacred  this  happy  alliance. 

It  was  then  the  time  when  the  inhabitants  of  the 
distant  shores  were  accustomed  to  offer  their  annual 
sacrifices  to  the  vengeful  Sun.  The  entire  population  of 
Ophir,  whom  the  Spaniards  joined  met  for  this  solemnity 
in  a  dark  valley  which  was  shaded  by  a  thick  crown  of 
woods  and  was  traversed  by  green  streamlets.  There, 
in  the  center  of  the  assemblage,  a  numerous  group  existed, 
diversely  composed  of  men  of  all  ages  and  ranks  of 
women,  of  children  and  of  old  people.  Horrible  spec- 
tacle !  All  the  unfortunates  who  form  this  group  carry 
upon  their  visages  the  marks  of  suffering;  a  horrible  lep- 
rosy soils  their  body;  their  flesh  is  eaten  by  hideous 
ulcers ! 

Notwithstanding,  a  priest  all  attired  in  white  advances 
towards  these  poor  victims.  He  shakes  over  their  heads 
a  branch  of  guaiac  from  which  a  bright  liqiid  flows,  then 
with  his  own  hand  he  sacrifices  a  young  bull  with  a  snow- 

Page  Fifty -one 


white  coat ;  he  gathers  its  blood  in  a  sacred  dish  and 
pours  it  upon  a  shepherd  kneeling  at  the  altar.  He  then 
addresses  a  solemn  hymn  to  the  Sun,  and  the  entire  as- 
semblage responds  to  his  sacred  words.  Boars,  and  ewes 
are  then  immolated  and  their  entrails,  roasted  at  once, 
are  distributed  to  those  who  are  present. 

The  Spaniards  gazed  upon  these  strange  ceremonies 
with  wonder;  they  trembled  with  fear  at  the  sight  of  the 
hideous  ravages  of  a  disease  that  was  unknown  to  them. 
Their  leader  remained  silent  for  a  long  time  as  if  in  a 
dream,  and  then  cried  out:  "Ah,  here  it  is:  doubtless, 
this  is  the  scourge  with  which  the  bird  of  Apollo, 
threatened  us,  O  eternal  gods,  pity,  pity  us!"  Then  ad- 
dressing the  King  of  the  natives  (for  already  the  two 
peoples  had  learned  to  understand  one  another):  "What 
are"  said  he,  "the  religious  rites?  Who  are  those  un- 
fortunates gathered  together  in  this  place?  Who  is  the 
shepherd  upon  whom  your  sacrificer  has  spread  the  blood 
of  the  victim?  " 

"Valiant  stranger",  answered  the  King,  "thou  hast 
witnessed  our  annual  sacrifice  in  honor  of  the  Sun.  Its 
origin  is  very  ancient.  And  since  thou  hast  asked  to 
know  it,  I  will  satisfy  thy  wish:  I  will  tell  thee  what 
series  of  misfortunes  has  struck  us,  and  how  this  scourge 
which  now  desolates  us  was  bora  in  our  midst." 

"An  issue  of  Atlas,  of  Atlas  our  father,  whose  name 
no  doubt  is  not  unknown  to  thee,  our  nation  lived  for  a 
long  time  happily  and  cherished  of  the  sky,  as  long  as  it 
honored  the  gods  and  remained  faithful  to  their  worship. 

Page  Fifty-two 


But  a  time  came,  alas!  in  which  corruption  and  im- 
piety slipped  in  among  us,  in  which  the  sacred  altars  of 
our  fathers  were  devoted  to  contempt.  The  punishment 
of  such  a  crime  did  not  take  time  to  come,  for  from  that 
period  dates  for  us  a  series  of  misfortunes  which  I  would 
be  unable  to  recite.  It  was,  at  first,  that  famous  island 
to  which  Atlas  had  given  his  name,  that  queen  of  the 
seas,  Atlantic,  that  a  fearful  cataclysm  shook  to  its  very 
foundations,  and  which  threw  itself  in  the  bosom  of  those 
waves  which  were  formerly  subject  to  its  empire.  Then 
the  anger  of  heaven  turned  itself  against  our  flocks,  and 
we  saw  disappear  to  the  last  young  of  this  giant  animal 
of  which  nothing  has  survived  among  us  but  a  memory. 
As  a  result,  we  have  nothing  to  offer  to  our  gods  but  the 
blood  of  foreign  victims,  born  under  a  sky  which  is  not 
ours.  Later  on  yet,  the  anger  of  the  gods  and  the  ven- 
geance of  Apollo  unchained  upon  us  the  terrible  scourge 
of  which  thou  hast  seen  the  ravages.  This  disease  has 
spread  itself  in  all  our  cities,  and  very  few  among  us  es- 
cape its  cruel  attacks.  It  is  for  the  purpose  of  conjuring 
him  and  to  propitiate  him  that  our  fathers  established 
these  expiatory  sacrifices,  of  whose  origin  it  remains  for 
me  to  tell  thee". 

According  to  an  ancient  tradition,  even  here,  on  the 
banks  of  this  river,  a  shepherd  of  the  name  of  Syphilus 
watched  innumerable  flocks  of  King  Alcithous.  It  was 
the  period  of  the  Solstice,  and  Sirius  threw  the  fire  of 
his  rays  on  these  fields.  A  torrid  heat  burned  the  earth; 
the  forests  had  no  shade,  the  breeze  was  no  longer  cool. 
Syphilus  saw  his  animals  dying;  seized  with  indignation, 

Page  Fifty- ihree 


exasperated  by  his  own  sufferings,  he  threw  to  Sirius  a 
threatening  look  and  thus  addressed  the  god:  'What! 
we  honor  thee  as  the  father  and  the  creator  of  all  things, 
we  erect  to  thee  altars,  we  offer  to  thee  our  incense,  we 
sacrifice  to  thee  victims  without  number,  and  this  is  our 
reward,  this  is  the  care  that  thou  takest  of  the  flocks  of 
my  King!  Ah!  it  is  jealousy  without  doubt  that  is  de- 
vouring thee!  Thou  who  hast  in  the  heavens,  it  is  said 
but  one  bull,  but  one  ram,  with  a  hectic  dog  to  watch 
this  great  drove,  thou  hast  not  borne  in  view  without 
envy  our  thousands  of  cattle,  our  thousands  of  sheep  with 
the  white  fleece.  Fool  that  1  am.  It  is  not  to  thee,  it 
is  to  Alcithous  that  I  should  render  divine  honors.  If 
that  great  King  commands  so  many  peoples,  if  so  many 
seas  obey  his  laws,  it  is  because,  most  assuredly,  his 
power  is  greater  than  thine  and  that  of  all  the  other  gods. 
He,  at  least,  will  know  how  to  guard  our  flocks,  to  give 
them  cool  shelter,  and  to  furnish  them  with  green  shades' ". 
"He  had  spoken,  and  without  waiting  he  erected  an 
altar  on  the  neighboring  mountain;  he  then  rendered  di- 
vine honors  to  Alcithous.  Shepherds  and  plowmen  soon 
follow  this  impious  example;  and  incense  no  longer 
smokes,  the  blood  of  victims  is  no  longer  poured  out  in 
honor  of  the  new  god". 

Alcithous  received  these  homages  with  intoxication. 
From  the  top  of  his  throne,  in  the  midst  of  his  assembled 
peoples,  he  proclaimed  himself  the  sovereign  of  the  world; 
he  decreed  that  in  future,  to  him  alone  were  divine  hon- 
ors to  be  rendered.     'Let  the  gods',  said  he,  'divide  the 

Page  Fifty-four 


heayens  among  them;  they   have  nothing  to  look   after 
among  the  things  here  below ! " 

"But  Sirius,  whom  nothing  escapes,  Sirius  who  with 
one  look  embraces  the  universe,  could  not  see  without 
indignation  such  sacrileges.  In  his  anger,  he  charges  his 
rays  with  pestilential  poisons  and  virulent  miasms,  which 
simultaneously  infect  the  air,  the  earth  and  the  waters. 
At  once  upon  this  criminal  earth  there  arises  an  unknown 
plague.  Syphilus  is  the  first  attacked  by  it,  on  account 
of  having  been  the  first  to  profane  the  sacred  altars.  A 
hideous  leprosy  covers  his  body;  fearful  pains  torture  his 
limbs  and  banish  sleep  from  his  eyes.  Then,  this  terri- 
ble disease — known  since  then  among  us  by  the  name 
of  Syphilis— does  not  take  long  to  spread  in  our  entire 
nation,  not  even  sparing  our  King  himself". 

"Our  fathers  then,  in  their  alarm,  ran  to  ask  the 
nymph  Anerica,  who  gives  the  sacred  oracles  in  the 
woods  of  Carthese.  They  ask  her  the  cause  of  the  dis- 
ease whic'n  is  afflicting  them;  they  implore  of  her  a 
remedy  for  their  sufferings". 

'  Impious  mortals',  answers  the  nymph,  '  you 
have  had  the  presumption  to  equal  yourselves  to  the 
gods,  and  today  you  suffer  the  punishment  of  your  crime. 
Go,  go  without  loss  of  time,  to  implore  your  pardon  of 
the  god  whom  you  have  offended;  re-erect  those  altars 
and  offer  to  him  those  sacrifices  which  are  his  due.  Per- 
haps you  may,  in  this  manner,  appease  his  anger.  But 
do  not  hope  to  see  the  end  of  the  scourge  that  is  afflicting 
you.  This  disease  shall  be  eternal,  and  whosoever 
shall  be  bora  on  this  earth  will  suffer  from  its  attacks; 

Page  Fifty-five 


Apollo  has  sworn  it  by  the  Styx  and  by  immutable  Des- 
tiny. Here  at  all  events,  is  how  you  may  obtain  relief 
to  your  sufferings.  Choose  in  your  flocks  a  white  heifer 
and  a  black  one;  sacrifice  the  first  to  Juno  and  the  sec- 
ond to  Cybele.  Juno  will  scatter  in  the  air  propitious 
germs  which,  received  and  fecundated  in  the  bosom  of 
Cybele,  produce  a  tree  with  green  branches.  That  tree 
is  your  savior'". 

"Thus  spoke  the  nymph,  whose  voice  shook  the 
cave  and  the  neighboring  wood.  A  chill  of  terror  oc- 
curred at  this  sinister  prophecy.  Nevertheless,  the  com- 
mands of  the  nymph  were  obeyed;  the  altars  were  re- 
erected;  two  heifers  were  sacrificed,  the  white  one  and 
the  other  black,  in  honor  of  Juno  and  of  Cybele". 

"Then  suddenly,  O  unheard  prodigy  and  true  pro- 
digy (I  attest  for  it  the  gods  and  the  names  of  our 
fathers),  an  unknown  tree  arises  from  the  bosom  of  the 
earth,  spreads  its  branches  and  develops  its  luxuriant 
crown  of  foliage.  It  is  from  the  fruitful  trunk  of  this 
tree  that  the  neighboring  forest  was  born". 

"Our  high  priest  at  once  prescribes  new  sacrifices  in 
honor  of  Apollo.  He  insists  upon  an  expiatory  victim, 
and  fate  chooses  Syphiius  to  pay  with  his  life  for  the 
crime  of  the  nation". 

"The  sacrifice  is  being  prepared.  Already  the  rib- 
bons and  the  sacred  cakes  are  deposited  on  the  altar ; 
already  the  iron  threatens  the  breast  of  the  victim,  when 
all  at  once  Juno  and  Sirius,  whose  anger  has  been  ap- 
peased, substitute  for  the  shepherd  Syphiius  a  young 

Page  Fifty-»ix 


bull  who  receives  the  fatal  blow  and  alone  pays  with  the 
price  of  his  blood  the  outrage  done  to  the  gods". 

"It  is  to  preserve  the  memory  of  these  memorable 
events  that  our  fathers  instituted  the  religious  rites  which 
you  have  just  witnessed  and  which  are  renewed  each 
year  among  us.  A  fictitious  victim,  this  shepherd  whom 
you  see  at  the  foot  of  the  altar  recalls  to  us  the  sacrilege 
of  Syphilus.  These  unfortunates  are  those  of  our  people 
whom  the  anger  of  the  gods  has  struck  and  who  cruelly 
expiate  the  faults  of  our  father.  Our  high  priest  tries 
to  call  down  on  them  the  pity  of  heaven  and  appease 
the  anger  of  Apollo  by  his  prayers.  Purified  by  these 
pious  sacrifices,  they  soon  regain  their  homes,  loaded 
with  the  sacred  branches  which  are  to  deliver  them  from 
this  horrible  disease". 

In  this  manner  mutual  relations  were  thus  completed, 
cementing  the  union  of  these  two  peoples,  formerly 
strangers  to  one  another,  when  suddenly  a  gruesome 
rumor  spread,  brought  by  ships  of  the  squadron  which 
came  back  from  the  old  world  after  having  twice  crossed 
the  immensity  of  the  seas.  O  pain,  O  cruel  and  im- 
penetrable destiny!  The  scourge  which  desolates  Ophir, 
has,  it  is  said,  just  burst  forth  in  Europe. 

It  rages  there  with  fury,  sowing  fear  everywhere  and 
no  remedy  can  prevent  its  ravages.  This  is  not  all ! 
Here  soon  the  same  disease  is  developed  aboard  of  the 
fleet.  Numbers  of  sailors  are  attacked  by  it  and  see 
their  bodies  covered  with  hideous  taints. 

In  their  affliction,  the  Spaniards  recalling  the  ill- 
omened  oracle  of  the  bird  of  Apollo,  predicting  to  them 
that  the  day  would  come  when  they  would  implore  for 

Page  Fifty-seven 


their  pardon  and  their  safety  the  forest  made  bloody  by 
their  arms.  Without  more  hesitation,  they  offered  a 
sacrifice  to  the  Sun  and  to  the  Nymphs  of  that  country. 
Then  they  went  to  pluck  in  the  forest  branches  of  the 
sacred  wood,  and  prepared,  according  to  the  native  rite, 
the  salutary  brew  which  is  to  purify  them.  Thinking  of 
the  distress  of  their  companions,  they  load  their  ships 
with  similar  branches,  in  the  hope  that  this  precious 
remedy  will  preserve  its  qualities  under  a  foreign  sky. 
They  finally  leave.  Propitious  winds  fill  their  sails; 
Apollo  himself  directs  their  course. 

Divine  guaiac,  it  was  Spain  that  had  the  happiness 
of  first  receiving  on  our  continent  and  of  being  the  first 
to  know  thy  marvelous  virtues.  Later  the  Gauls  and 
the  Germans,  Scythia  and  Latium  implored  thy  help. 
Salutations  to  thee,  savior  tree  with  the  luxuriant  trunk, 
with  the  generous  sap !  We  salute  thee,  the  pride  of  the 
New  World!  Ah!  what  would  have  been  thy  glory,  if 
propitious  Destinies  had  caused  thee  to  be  born  in  this 
land,  the  natal  place  of  poets  and  of  the  gods!  A 
stranger  among  us,  mayest  thou  at  least  owe  some  part 
of  thy  honors  to  these  verses  as  honors  which  are  thy 
due !  Without  doubt  my  Muse  does  not  dare  to  aspire 
to  spread  the  noise  of  thy  marvels  from  the  confines  of 
Bactria  to  the  ice- bergs  of  the  pole  or  to  the  burning 
sands  of  Ethiopia;  but  she  will  at  least  publish  thy  sub- 
lime virtues  among  the  peoples  of  Latium,  in  the  fields 
of  the  Adigos  and  on  the  flowery  banks  of  the  Benacus; 
perhaps  even  it  will  carry  thy  name  to  the  ears  of  Bembo, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  and  this  will  be  for  her  the 
dearest  reward  for  her  labors. 

Pane  Fifty-eight 


